


Snapshots

by CordeliaRose



Category: The Walking Dead (TV)
Genre: Alternate Universe - High School, F/M, Gleggie - Freeform, Glenn/Maggie, High School, High School AU, Snapshots, and gleggie ofc, carol is a teacher, idrk what i'm doing but i hope it's good, like little looks into gleggie in high school, main focus is glenn and maggie, michonne and andrea are just kind of there, shane isn't a dick because i reckon he was pretty decent before he started murdering people, tara is there quite a bit because tara is bae
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2016-05-15
Updated: 2018-05-18
Packaged: 2018-06-08 13:36:49
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 12
Words: 34,050
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/6857185
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/CordeliaRose/pseuds/CordeliaRose
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Little looks into the life of Glenn/Maggie in high school. Chronological order one-shots with a few other characters scattered around, but the main focus is on Gleggie's relationship.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So this chapter is kind of like the build-up of them getting together, after this the 'snapshots' will be parts of their relationship. They'll be in chronological order but not like an everyday thing, just little bits here and there. If anyone has any ideas for what they'd like to see then please tell me; I have several ideas but I'm always thirsty for more Gleggie :D

On Maggie's first day at her new high school, she was partnered up with Glenn for an English project. She collected her timetable from the main office and then walked into the classroom half an hour late, and tried not to shift uncomfortably when everyone stared at her.

The teacher, a kind-looking older woman named Ms. Peletier, came over to greet her, and the rest of the class began chattering among themselves again, their interest in her rapidly deteriorating. Ms. Peletier quickly explained that they were halfway through Macbeth, and offered to arrange some catch-up sessions when Maggie admitted she'd never read it before. "We're currently doing a project on Macbeth's wife, Lady Macbeth; obviously you won't know much, but I think I'll put you with Glenn anyway. Just so you see what kind of work we do in class." She led her towards a desk at the back of the room (and oh God everyone was watching them again), and a young Asian guy glanced up at them with a small smile.

'Glenn' had almond-shaped, hazel eyes and black hair that contrasted nicely with his tawny skin colour, and he gazed at her inquisitively but not unkindly, before shifting his glance over to Ms. Peletier.

"This is Maggie," the teacher explained. "She just started here today – could you please explain what we've done so far in Macbeth to her and just show her the kind of stuff we do?"

"Sure," Glenn agreed, pushing most of his stuff to one side. Ms. Peletier gestured for her to sit down in the empty space next to him and handed her a worn copy of the play. The teacher gave her a reassuring pat on the shoulder before heading back to her desk.

By the end of the lesson, Maggie's heart had started to beat at a reasonable pace, and she had a new friend (she hoped). Glenn was sweet, just slightly on the side of shy and awkward, and had seemed genuinely interested when he asked her about her family and why she'd moved here (though he was careful to add 'as long as that's not too personal' after every question). He even offered to take her to her next class, and then after ninety minutes of algebra that made no sense to her, she walked out of the classroom after everyone else to find Glenn waiting patiently for her.

"Thought you might want to dump your stuff," he said when she noticed him. "They haven't given you a locker, yet, right?" At her nod, he continued, "I don't have much in mine, you can put it in there."

"Thanks," she said quietly, readjusting her folders in her arms and ducking her head. She wasn't usually so shy, but Glenn was so nice to her (and cute) that she felt self-conscious around him. She wondered if he had a girlfriend – probably, she shouldn't get her hopes up.

Thankfully his locker was out of the way of the crowded corridors and there was little to no noise as he fiddled with the combination lock and shoved his stuff in. He placed hers inside noticeably gentler, and Maggie was so focused on watching his long, delicate fingers at work that she missed his question.

"Huh?" she asked, and then slapped herself internally. Way to make yourself look attractive.

Glenn just grinned. "I was wondering if you wanted to wait a minute before going to get lunch from the cafeteria. It's busy down there at first." He shut his locker again and spun the dial, then shoved his hands in his pockets.

"That'd be great, thanks." She sighed and leant back against the lockers, running her hands over her face. "Sorry, just…new day and stuff. Tiring."

"I get it." He mimicked her, ruffling his hair so that it stuck up slightly. She got the urge to run her hands through it. "Not a new day for me but I'm still tired."

There was comfortable silence for a few minutes, Glenn seeming to sense that she didn't want to talk. She got the sense he was a guy who liked to fill silences, though, so she put him out of his misery. "Hey, I don't want to be the needy new girl—"

"You're not," Glenn countered immediately, jumping to attention.

"It's just my sister – Beth – she started today as well, two grades below. I guess I should go check and make sure she's doing good, see if she's met anybody."

"Oh. Sure! Let's go look for her."

True to her prediction, Glenn kept up a constant stream of chatter as they walked, which surprisingly soothed her nerves rather than grating on them. She felt bad for not being very responsive when he was being so friendly, and eventually when he paused for breath, she blurted out, "Sorry for taking up your lunchtime, you probably have better things to be doing."

Glenn turned to look at her as he answered, nearly tripping over his own feet and steadying himself at the last minute. "If by better things you mean sitting on a suspiciously damp bench and throwing lettuce at a group of misfits that I call my friends, then yeah, sure, I have better things to be doing."

She laughed abruptly, surprising herself, and was searching for a good response when they reached the bottom of the stairs and she saw her sister's distinctly blonde ponytail in a crowd of people. "Oh, Beth!" She pointed him out to Glenn. "Looks like she's found some people."

Glenn squinted at the group. "Yeah, that boy next to her – that's Carl. He's Rick's brother – Rick's my friend – and pretty cool, he'll be making sure she's okay."

Maggie sighed in relief. "Good." She nodded, reassuring herself that everything was fine. "Sorry. I worry a lot."

Glenn just smiled at her. "That's what people say about me," he said conversationally. "Maybe we should work on that sometime." She laughed again, and the sound seemed to attract Beth's attention. She glanced up and saw her sister, said something to Carl briefly and slipped over.

"You alright?" she asked when she got closer, smiling at her older sister.

"I should be asking you that," Maggie teased. "Yeah, I'm good. You?"

Beth nodded. "Carl's in most of my classes so he's showing me around. He's nice."

"Okay, meet you outside the gates after school?" Her sister nodded, and she hugged her briefly before she returned to her group, slipping in easily.

"Thanks," she said to Glenn, suddenly feeling shy again. "Um, so, cafeteria?"

"Yeah, sure. You vegetarian? Because we do have a vegetarian option but it's kind of gross."

"Nah, I'm an omnivore. Daddy runs a farm, so I've always been brought up to eat practically everything."

"You live on the farm as well?" Again, there was actual interest in his voice.

"Yeah, I get up early to help out with the feeding, and same when I get back, and then at the weekends I do odd jobs like grooming the horses, milking the cows and stuff."

"That's so cool. My parents are really boring, they're both surgeons, and my sisters are pretty much the same. Two are lawyers, one's a doctor, and another one's studying biomechanics." He rolled his eyes. "And then there's me, barely getting ninety percent in my Math classes."

"So all of your sisters are older?"

"Yeah. They're not around much but it's great when I do see them. They're really nice, and very…unlike my parents in a lot of ways. They're the, uh, pushy types."

"Ah, I get you. Must be a pain."

Glenn shrugged. "It is what it is." He opened a door for her, and noise hit her like a brick wall. "This is about as quiet as the cafeteria gets, unfortunately." He didn't look too happy about it either.

"It's okay," Maggie said, though it kind of wasn't and she kind of wanted to run away immediately. And kind of wanted to cling to him and bury her face in the junction between his neck and shoulder and breathe in his smell.

"Don't have to queue though, we can just grab lunch and then head outside, so we don't have to be in here for ages." He was waiting for her to move, she realised, so she nodded and stepped forward, Glenn at her side. "It's a lot quieter outside, there's usually just us. Sometimes people walk through but a lot of people don't eat on the benches ever since they have teachers checking that we're not smoking out there."

"Anyone you sit with smoke?"

"Daryl, sometimes. Not with us, though. Says if he's fucking up his lungs then he's not going to fuck up ours."

Maggie smiled. Somehow Glenn still managed to sound innocent when he swore. "Daryl seems like a considerate guy."

"He is, when you get to know him. Don't be offended, by the way, if he seems a bit closed off at first. That's just how he is. He's also, um…well, you'll see."

"Thanks for the heads-up." She considered the array of soggy sandwiches before her and settled on something that had chicken in it somewhere. Glenn made the same choice, and they headed back out. "Anything else I should know?"

"Rick and Shane have been friends since they were in the womb, Andrea has a massive crush on Shane, Shane has a massive crush on Lori, Lori has a massive crush on Rick, and Rick doesn't have a crush on anyone. Well, I have a theory that he likes Shane, but that's not confirmed yet. Um, Michonne does fencing and she loves swords…and her and Andrea used to hate each other but they’re like sisters now. I think that's it. Oh, wait. Tara is gay, so I hope you don't have a problem with that."

"Course not. You got any dark secrets?"

"Only the three dead bodies in my basement," he said, then immediately groaned. "Crap, sorry. I always forget that new people might not have the same sense of humour."

"You're lucky I do then," Maggie grinned. Damn it, this crush wasn't going to be going away anytime soon. She'd never felt so attracted to anyone within the space of a few hours.

Glenn pushed open a door and sunlight streamed in to the dark end of the corridor. She walked out slowly, letting her eyes adjust and relishing the soft breeze that washed over her skin, and then followed Glenn over to a table. A girl with dreads was throwing pieces of bread at a blonde-haired girl, who was resolutely picking them up and throwing them back, and a brunette girl was staring at two guys with curly hair as they chatted. A boy with long hair was glaring around at them all, but when he got hit by a piece of bread he smiled a little, before immediately scowling and hitting the dread-locked girl in the eye with a piece of lettuce. Another girl was sitting on the ground next to them, making a daisy-chain and ignoring the general violence of the table. Glenn sighed. "Welcome to my friends," he said in a deadpan tone. Maggie giggled as they walked over, sitting down on the unoccupied seats next to each other.

The others didn't seem to notice their arrival, too wrapped up in their conversations or bread wars, so Glenn took the time to point them out. The girl with dreads was Michonne and the blonde was Andrea, the brunette Lori. Glaring guy was Daryl, the two other guys were Rick and Shane, and the daisy-chain girl was Tara.

Daryl was the only one who looked up when he heard his name, and he squinted at her. "Who's this?" he asked gruffly, picking something out of his sandwich.

"Maggie. She's new," Glenn replied, seemingly undisturbed by the chaos going on around them.

"Hi," she said quietly, as a piece of tomato flew by her nose.

Daryl nodded. "Maybe we'll finally have one sane person in the group. Chinaman's batshit insane with the rest of us."

"Korean, Daryl," Glenn said, but he didn't seem annoyed, more amused. "I'm Korean, not Chinese."

Daryl snorted, not looking at him. "Slitty eyes is slitty eyes."

Maggie's mouth dropped open slightly, but then Tara on the ground piped up, "You'll get used to Daryl and his perpetual racism. He's just a redneck who can't let go of his ways."

That finally got the others to look up, all looking comically surprised at the new girl sitting with them. "Oh," the one called Andrea said, dropping a piece of bread onto her lap.

"This is Maggie," Glenn said for her, taking a bite of his sandwich. "She's new."

"Hi," she repeated, not sure where to look. Tara took the pressure off her by exclaiming suddenly, holding up her daisy chain for them to see with a proud smile on her face.

"Beautiful," Michonne said, dipping her head so Tara could place it on her. "I feel like a queen."

"You're already a queen to us, Mich," Andrea grinned, punctuating her statement by chucking some more bread at her.

* * *

"So Daryl…" Glenn was getting her stuff out of his locker again, handing her the folders and books. She looked over at him when he spoke. "Probably should have mentioned the whole racism thing." He straightened, holding his own stuff. "His brother's an asshole, his dad's…we don't know exactly, but he's not great, Daryl never talks about him or invites us round to his house, so we reckon he's kind of a crappy dad… so Daryl's kind of rough around the edges. When we first met him, he was really bad at showing affection so he just did what his dad and brother always did. Now when he insults us it's just his way of saying 'I love you guys'."

"Should I expect any insults?"

Glenn chewed on his lip. "Only if the rest of us call you it. He's gotten better now that he doesn't think he has to be like his family. I mean, he calls Tara a rug-muncher, but we all call her that. She calls herself that. It's…it sounds horrible, but it's…we're not being mean, it's just that—"

"I get it," she grinned. "Like how he calls you 'Chinaman'?"

"Exactly. It's affectionate more than insulting." Glenn came to a stop and pointed towards a corridor. "Your classroom's down there. Mine's on the other side of the school, or I'd wait with you, but…"

"It's fine." He didn't look convinced, so she reached out and squeezed his arm. "Really. Just…first day nerves, they're going now. Don't be late because of me."

"Okay." He still didn't go. "Just…have fun, yeah? Come find me at the end of the day if you need to. I'll be at my locker for a few minutes."

"Of course." With that, he finally walked off, even though he looked guilty about it. She smiled after him until he was gone from sight, waving shyly when he turned around to check on her, and then walked down the corridor, looking at every door until she came to hers. To her relief (because it was a bit more than just first-day nerves despite what she had told Glenn) she found Tara outside as well. The girl looked up when she hear footsteps, shaking hair off her face.

"You got Chemistry with Dr. Ecom too?" Tara asked, smiling at her. Maggie nodded. "Cool. I think we're doing a practical today – we can work together if you want. I don't really have a partner. They're more fun than theory lessons, for me anyway, but they can be a bit messy, so we'll have to find you an apron."

"That'd be good." Maggie glanced around and, seeing nobody was too close, asked, "Hey, you know Glenn?"

"I do." Tara chewed her lip.

"Um…does he like, have a girlfriend or anything? Just, there was nobody at lunch and stuff, so I was wondering…" She trailed off when she noticed Tara grinning at her knowingly. "I'm not asking because—"

"You like him." Tara nodded. "If I wasn't gay, I probably would. He's super sweet. And kind of dorky. But he'd be a great boyfriend. Go for it."

"I only just met him!" Maggie protested. "Besides, I didn't even say I liked him," she added as an afterthought, realising that maybe her argument wasn't too convincing.

"Oh, Maggie." Tara shook her head sympathetically. "You can't hide from me. My lesbian senses see all." She pulled out her phone and tapped the screen a few times. "Here." She handed it over to Maggie. "Put your number in."

Maggie obediently typed it in and handed it back, not seeing the point in protesting that she liked Glenn. Sure, it was just a small crush, but what was the harm in admitting it? Tara seemed pretty trustworthy, with a playful air around her that made Maggie like her instantly.

"I'll text you Glenn's number tonight. Just talk to him about anything, we had a conversation about like, cheese, or something once. He's easy to talk to. Plus whenever we give him shit about never having a girlfriend he just says that nobody is right for him, and then we're like 'well who is' and he's all like 'well' and then goes on a rant and he describes someone who seems a lot like you." She smiled. "As far as I can tell, anyway. I mean, it's been one day but you're pretty cool and well, pretty. I met my girlfriend at a party and she asked me out within like half an hour, and it's been, what? Three years. So go for it, you don't have to know someone forever to know that you like them."

Maggie felt her cheeks heating up, partially because of the compliments but also because she actually felt like she might have a chance. "What's she called?" she asked instead.

"Denise. She's at college now. Studying psychiatry." Tara smiled dreamily. "She's awesome. She has like blonde hair and glasses and her eyes are really pretty."

Sensing Tara was about to go off into a daydream, Maggie risked another question. "You really think Glenn would like me?"

Tara snorted. "Um, definitely." A tall man with an austere expression opened the door and beckoned them in, barely giving Maggie a second glance. As she sat down next to Tara at one of the long lab tables, the girl whispered, "Glenn's like my best friend, I know him well. Trust me when I say he definitely likes you already. I could tell at lunchtime."

* * *

When Maggie got home that night she went up to her room to change. She had a new text from Tara (saying hey, giving her Glenn's number and then asking how she'd found the chemistry experiment) and replied while kicking off her jeans and hunting for her tracksuit bottoms. She saved Glenn's number to her contacts and, before, she could chicken out of it, sent him a quick text. 'Hey, it's Maggie. Tara gave me your number, hope that's okay?' She debated adding an 'x' for a good minute and then finally did, hitting send before she could second-guess herself.

She plugged it in to charge as she headed off to tend to the animals, kissing her dad on the cheek and grabbing an apple to put her on until dinner when she came back in. She had four texts waiting when she got back, one from Tara, which read 'HAVE YOU TEXTED GLENN YET' and three from Glenn, which read 'Hair care products', 'Damn it', and then 'Hi, Maggie, it turns out I can't use technology. How did you find today?x'

Today just got a whole lot better.

(Glenn had been trying to send a message to his sister about shampoo when hers had popped up, she found out two weeks later.)

* * *

Rick and Shane were both on the school's football team – of course – and on Friday Maggie agreed to tag along to watch the game. She had spent a week with the strange group now and felt comfortable around them, mostly Glenn and Tara, but she had adjusted herself to Daryl's slightly acidic personality and Michonne's ranting about swords as well.

They got into the stadium half an hour early, sitting close together to keep warm. Tara raised her eyebrows when she saw Maggie practically in Glenn's lap, so she made an extra effort to look like she was freezing to death. "Why'd we get here so early?" she asked, rubbing her hands together. Glenn pulled a pair of gloves from his pocket and she slipped them on gladly, smiling at him in thanks.

"Good seats, chance to hang out…" Andrea trailed off.

Michonne chipped in. "We're sad people who have nothing better to do, Maggie. Sorry we dragged you into this."

"Sorry you got dragged into Michonne and her swords," Tara teased from next to her.

"Hey! Swords are awesome!"

"Better than Lori and her obsession with Benedict Cumberbatch," Andrea pointed out. "Or Glenn and his video games."

Glenn squeaked indignantly. "Give games a chance," he protested. "You've never even played any!"

"I so have," Andrea retorted, sitting up straight. "I played Grand Theft Auto for like an hour, and I played Mortal Kombat with my dad once."

"Oh my God, Andrea, you're just embarrassing yourself. Just…stop, please."

"Even I've played more than that," Lori snorted, pulling a beanie on.

"I played the Uncharted games," Tara volunteered.

"I've never played any," Maggie admitted. "I mean, I'm always doing something on the farm so I never even thought about it."

"Okay, you're excused," Glenn said, but with a heavy sigh. "The rest of you have no excuse for not playing video games."

"My excuse is that I'm not lame," Michonne muttered.

"I…I'm hurt, I don't know what to say." Glenn made a show of clutching at his heart. "Your betrayal cuts deep."

"If you don't shut up my sword will cut you deeper."

Maggie was distracted by being so close to Glenn, his body warmth so close to hers, that when she laughed she slid off his lap and landed on the concrete. "Ow," she groaned, but she was still laughing so it didn't have much dramatic effect to it. Everyone else laughed at her, and when other students began filling the stands they got a few weird stares.

Maggie just leant back against Glenn's legs as the laughing wore down to a few weak giggles, and pretended not to be disappointed when she stopped and had no excuse to stay on the ground. But when she reclaimed her seat, Glenn slowly looped his arm around her waist to hold her to him, and both of them pretended not to notice Tara grinning while the others remained oblivious.

* * *

"I finally got my own locker," Maggie said, grinning. "Only took them two weeks to deem it necessary that I have one." She was tired from doing her homework late last night, but at least it was Friday.

"Ooh, is it at least in a prime location?" Glenn asked. He always waited for her outside the gates before school now, just so she had someone to walk in with.

"It's right next to yours." She chanced a look at him, worried he was getting sick of her by now. She sent every moment at school with him or the rest of the 'misfits', and after school she texted him near-constantly.

"Awesome," he enthused. "Now I can rant at you about video games between every single period!"

Maggie pretended to faint. "I knew there was a reason I felt depressed when they told me," she sighed dramatically, and giggled when he poked her in the ribcage, right where she was ticklish.

* * *

There had definitely been something between them that both of them realised but neither of them acted on, both too scared that the other wasn't interested in the same way. Glenn had told himself it was time to man up – or woman up, his sisters were a lot braver than he was, and Andrea would kick his butt into next week if he heard her even insinuating that women weren't as good as men – so when Maggie closed her locker and looked up at him, he took a step closer and put his hands on her shoulders. "I…" he began, then decided to just go for it, because Maggie's pupils were dilated and she was breathing fast and Tara had been telling him to go for it for ages now, so he just leant in and kissed her. It was a little awkward, because he'd never kissed before and he didn't think Maggie had either, but after the initial second of lips just being against each other they found a rhythm and oh my God it was heaven.

They only broke apart when they needed to breathe, but Maggie wasn't willing to give up the embrace so she leant her forehead against his as they tried to catch their breath, bumping her nose against his. "Sorry," Glenn said, though he wasn't sure what he was sorry for seeing as Maggie seemed to have enjoyed herself.

"Me too," Maggie gasped. "For not doing that sooner."

Glenn grinned at her and then laughed softly. "Kind of want to do it again."

"Me too."

It was much better that time, soft and sweet and passionate. Glenn cupped her face and tangled his fingers in her hair and she sighed into his mouth. They could feel each other's smiles.

They were interrupted by a loud shriek and then a click as Tara found them and took a picture, running off to tell the others. "I called it!" she yelled triumphantly at them as she sprinted down the corridor, waving her phone in the end.

Maggie couldn't help chuckling, leaning against Glenn's chest. "She kept telling me to go for it," she admitted.

"Me too. Sneaky little shit." They both laughed as she disappeared round a corner. "Hey." She looked up at him questioningly. "Want to go out somewhere tonight?"

"Like a date?"

"Um, yeah. Like a date. If you want it to be a date, of course, if you don't then it's not but if you do then—"

Maggie grinned and intertwined their fingers. "Let's go out on a date, Glenn."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> -I have this headcanon that Maggie was really shy in high school but became more confident as she grew older  
> -Also I hope nobody's offended by me using the term "rug-muncher", I just used it because I wanted to bring in the kind of insulting teasing dynamic and it's what my mum calls me ever since I came out to her  
> -Also Glenn is just the cutest  
> -And I kind of just made up some shit about his sisters so I hope nobody's too offended by it  
> -Love you all  
> -Comments would be great  
> -I have my first a-level exam tomorrow and I haven't revised at all lmao


	2. Chapter 2

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So this one hasn't got so much explicit Gleggie as it has them talking about their relationship etc.? Idk like I'm just trying to cement what's happening first and then we'll have some more chapters with just them so hold on tight buckaroos we'll get there
> 
> *in case you didn't know - UST = unresolved sexual tension

 

Glenn hadn't said anything about dating ever since their kiss in the hallway, although they had shared a few more – which Maggie had initiated. Sure, he had responded, but he had never been the one to start something. She wondered whether maybe Tara was wrong, and he didn't like her that much but was just too nice to tell her, and was rethinking the whole going out on a date thing. Every afternoon she pulled on her farm clothes and considered texting Tara and asking her (asking her face to face was too terrifying to even entertain as a concept) but she never quite worked up the nerve, too scared of the answer she was expecting but really didn't want to hear: Glenn doesn't like you back. So she tossed her phone onto her desk and feed the animals and maybe rode a couple of the horses until it got too dark and then when she got back she'd have a few texts from Glenn being his usual nice self and she felt so guilty about it because what if she was making him kiss her when he didn't want to and he was still being nice to her?

The rest of their friends (and yes, Maggie knew them well enough now to consider them her friends, some more than others) hadn't seemed to notice the slight awkwardness between the both of them, probably because Glenn did a valiant job at covering it up with his usual friendly demeanour. Or maybe she was just imagining it, paranoid and seeing things that weren't there.

Interestingly, the only person who had noticed her skittishness around Glenn was the person who she had always assumed to be emotionally empty. Daryl spent half of the Maths lesson squinting at her and chewing on the skin around his thumbnail without saying anything, so finally she just threw her pen down on the table and told him to come out with it.

He kept scribbling on his paper, answering the questions that they had been set while the class chattered and the teacher wandered around helping students, and finally said, "Somethin' goin' on between you and Chinaman." It wasn't phrased as a question, but he was obviously waiting for an answer.

Maggie bit her lip. Having known Daryl for two weeks, she got the sense he was entirely trust-worthy, but was she really meant to spill her heart and soul to someone who she barely knew? "I…we kissed," her brain made her say before she could stop it. "And then I kissed him, again. And he kissed back. But he never kissed me since the first kiss. So I think maybe he doesn't want to kiss me."

Daryl nodded, though he looked intensely uncomfortable with the conversation, chewing on his lip. Maggie felt a little bad but Daryl had breached the subject so it was his problem now. "So you're worried that…wha', he doesn't like ya or somethin'?" He glanced up at her for a second, hiding behind his long fringe, and then sniffed and looked back down.

"Yeah. I mean, he hasn't said anything or done anything that I haven't initiated and I think maybe he doesn't like me as much as he thought he did at first. And Tara said that he did like me but I think Tara is wrong because he would have done stuff like asking me out, right?"

Daryl let out a bark of laughter at that, so unexpected that Maggie started. She blinked as she felt prickling behind her eyes; Daryl was laughing at how much Glenn didn't like her. She knew it, she knew she had made a fool out of herself—

"Glenn's practically in love with ya." Daryl snorted, eyes still on the equations he was solving. "Trust me, Tara's righ'. Rug-muncher always is. Listen ta me – Glenn's just scared so he's avoidin' talkin' to ya about it. Worried that ya won't want to, ya know, date or whatever the fuck people do."

Maggie blinked, this time not to get rid of tears but in surprise. Okay, maybe there were still a few tears she needed to get rid of. "Wait, you're saying that…Glenn's too shy to ask me if I like him?"

"Tha's exactly wha' I'm sayin'. Chinaman's a wuss sometimes. Not used to having someone like you take an interest in him."

"But…I've kissed him. Like, three times." Her brain caught up with her ears. "Someone like me?"

"Yur pretty. Don't get me wrong; Glenn's great, but he's kind of a dork. And yur jus'…I dunno, ridiculously pretty. Prob'ly thought ya felt sorry for him. He does that. S'practically his trademark."

"I wouldn't kiss him because I felt sorry for him." She ignored what else he'd said; now was not the time for her insecurities to invade her brain and make her forget everything that Daryl had said.

"I know tha', ya know tha', and Chinaman knows tha', but he's got no balls." He paused, then smiled suddenly. "Ain't no psychiatrist but I reckon it's somethin' to do with the fact all his sisters are hot-shot lawyers and the like. Parents always hasslin' him to figure out wha' he wants to do like his sisters always did. Prob'ly doesn't trust anythin' he thinks anymore."

Maggie frowned at him. Despite his disclaimer, and rough-and-ready demeanour, Daryl was damned smart and intuitive. "So what should I do? Should I…talk to him first?"

"Yep. And ya gotta make sure he knows ya not kidding or he'll run away and hide." He flipped his paper over. "Ya done question seven yet?"

Maggie glanced down at her page and realised she hadn't even finished the second question yet. "Uh, not quite."

Daryl glanced over and shook his head. "Anything ya don't do, ya'll get as homework. So hurry up, 'cuz ya'll have a bitchload to do."

As it turned out, she did end up with a bitchload of Maths work to do, and Daryl gave her no sympathy for it, muttering something about stupid Chinamen and farm girls. She flipped him off as he gathered his folders and then scooped up her own, heading towards English. Maybe she'd use the class as an opportunity to talk to him.

Or not, as it turned out, because Ms Peletier kept them all so heavily involved in class discussion that the only spoke a few sentences to each other, and they were mostly about metaphors.

With a newfound confidence from Daryl (she really needed to let him know how brilliant he was; she got the feeling that he didn't hear it often enough), she grabbed her books and cleared her throat. Glenn looked at her, slightly bewildered, as she gestured for him to follow him out of the room and go up to their lockers.

He followed a few steps behind her, stumbling behind her long strides. "I was going to go here with you anyway, you know." Glenn shoved his stuff haphazardly inside. "Like every lunchtime." He was fidgeting, rubbing his nose and then shoving his hands in his pockets. "You okay? You seem kind of distracted."

 _Well, here goes nothing._ "I like you, Glenn." Maggie slammed her locker closed and turned to face him. "Like, really like you. That's why I kept on kissing you. Because I like you, really like you. And I would like to date you and if you like me too then please just say because I cannot dance around the topic anymore because when I kiss you and you kiss me back it feels like I'm going to die but in a good way and I need to know if I have a chance of feeling like I'm going to die in a good way every day or not." She inhaled sharply, spinning around to put her forehead to the locker. Daryl was probably wrong and now she had embarrassed herself and—

Glenn had his hands on her shoulders, squeezing gently. "I like kissing you," he mumbled into her hair, his breath fluttering the light brown strands. "I really like it. It makes me feel like I'm dying in a good way too. I was worried that it made you feel like you were dying in a bad way. I thought you felt sorry for me or something."

"You're an idiot." She leant her head forward, hair falling over her pink cheeks.

"So are you."

"Want to go to lunch?"

"Let's go." He backed up and as soon as she turned around, her head still ducked a little, he tilted her face upwards gently with his thumb and kissed her, slow, gentle and sweet, his nose bumping against hers a little. "Would you like to go see a film this weekend?"

Maggie grinned. She always thought her mouth was too big and that her smile was too wide for her face but Glenn always smiled when she smiled so she didn't stop like she normally would. "Do I get to choose the film?"

"Of course." He leant in again and brushed the tip of his nose against hers.

"I guess I could go out for a film this weekend then," she said in mock contemplativeness, though her heart was beating so fast she thought it might just erupt from her chest and splatter Glenn with her blood and then he would dump her because that was disgusting and even somebody as sweet as him wouldn't want to keep on going out with her when she had covered him in her blood.

"Were you going to say no if you couldn't choose?" At some point during that sentence his hands had settled on her hips, loose and not too forward but there, a comforting weight.

"Maybe." She pecked him on the lips and then brought her hands up to cup his face. "I like being in charge," she whispered, leaning in again for a deeper kiss this time. She could feel his cheeks heating up at her words and sighed into the kiss.

They were ten minutes later than the others when they headed down for lunch and Maggie's lips felt swollen and tingly in the best way, but nobody saw how she kept touching them and Glenn's goofy smile because Tara had spilt Coke all down her top and everyone was preoccupied with either mopping it up with tissues or laughing at her. Nobody noticed them even when they slid onto the bench with the exception of Daryl, who smirked at them and threw some bread at Maggie. "Told ya," he grumbled, much to Glenn's bemusement, who looked between the two of them suspiciously. Maggie grinned at him and began to fill him in on Daryl's thoughts while Daryl grumbled and muttered something about "ain't no shrink, just ain't blind tha's all".

When Tara deemed herself dry enough, she settled back down besides Michonne, who was staring intensely at her phone screen, and ate the rest of her sandwich in one gulp, scowling fiercely at the table. "This is my nice top," she complained with her mouth full. "I like this top." She swallowed. "Denise likes this top."

"It'll be fine after a wash," Glenn offered, although from the sheer amount of space that the drink had contaminated he was doubtful that it would be.

Tara glanced up at him, her dark eyes narrow. "I'll put you in the wash," she threatened. "I don't care, fight me. I dare you."

"I'm not going to fight you, Tara."

"Please fight him, Tara," Shane mumbled, digging around in his pockets for his phone.

"Don't fight, please," Rick chipped in. Michonne shoved several sticks of cucumber into her mouth to avoid contributing and Andrea just shrugged.

"Two for, two against," Lori said, picking through her salad. "I'm abstaining. Maggie, you have the deciding vote."

"You're voting on whether they should fight?"

"No vote needed, I'll fucking go," Tara snarled, though Maggie could see amusement in her eyes and that Glenn was hiding a smile behind his hand.

"Fine, I'm against," she said, throwing her hands up when Shane and Tara started whining. Though she doubted the fight would be anything more than throwing soggy lettuce at each other, she wasn't running the risk of letting Tara ruin Glenn's face. "Don't get me wrong, Tara, I like you, but I'm on Glenn's side."

"Of course you are, you little homophobe," Tara said, crossing her arms and glaring at Maggie, ruining the effect slightly when she started to giggle. "You don't have to back him up on everything just because you two like each other. Oh, wait, we're not talking about that, are we? Everyone is just ignoring the UST and doing nothing about it."

There were a few seconds of silence in which everyone glanced between Tara, Glenn and Maggie, and Tara stared at the couple challengingly. Well, everyone except Michonne, who was still immersed in whatever was going on with her phone.

Glenn finally broke the silence. "Why are you so mean to me, Tara."

"Because I'm your friend and I care about you. And part of caring about you means that I publicly confront you to make good things happen."

Maggie's cheeks were bright pink. She felt hot, and a little dizzy from everyone staring at her. "We're going out this weekend," she blurted, just to get the moment over and done with.

Tara groaned and dropped her head into her hands dramatically. "You could have told me that before I went on a massive rant about it and your UST," came her muffled voice.

Andrea patted her on the back. "One way or another, you said what we were all thinking." She turned to look at Glenn and Maggie accusingly. "Seriously, it was getting really annoying. Don't do it again."

Michonne glanced up, bemused. "I heard someone talking about UST. Are we talking about Maggie and Glenn?" Andrea sighed and turned to the bewildered looking girl.

Glenn smiled, subtly wrapping an arm around Maggie's waist and pulling her a little closer. "We won't." She leaned into his embrace, settling her head on his shoulder and grabbing his hand, linking their fingers together. She didn't have to look to know that he was smiling. And blushing like mad.

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Tara is my spirit animal in this fic honestly she's so lame and weird
> 
> also my brotp is tara and glenn so that's why she's here so much
> 
> and daryl was in this quite a bit because poor lil baby couldn't have had an easy time growing up and HE NEEDS FRIENDS DAMMIT
> 
> if u want u can give me some ideas for future chapters (not like I have about 100 already COUGH)
> 
> and pls let me know if this is trash or not!!!!!!!!!!


	3. Chapter 3

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> i'm beginning to feel like a rap dog a rap dog
> 
> please let me know if you enjoyed the chapter with a lil review
> 
> feel like this is very poorly written so apologies

 

On the walk back from school, Beth had wheedled the date out of her and was almost as excited as she was for it, both of them singing cheesy songs from the 80s and laughing. Maggie was practically vibrating with happiness by the time they arrived at the farm.

Hershel was checking over one of their mares when they came to the end of the long, dirt driveway and came out to greet them, smiling when Maggie wrapped him up in a bear hug. He was covered in horse hair and sweat and he fished a bandana from his back pocket to wipe his forehead before he spoke.

"Glad to see you're not moping around anymore," he said, squeezing her. "You finally sort things out with that Asian boy?"

"What?" Maggie squeaked, looking accusingly at Beth, who just shrugged apologetically.

"I'm not good at keeping secrets," she said nonchalantly. "And I told you, Daddy, he's called Glenn, not just 'the Asian boy'." She gave him a pointed look.

"At least you're not calling him Chinese." Maggie kissed Hershel's cheek, smiling. "We're going out tomorrow, to the cinema." The fact that this was the first date that either of his daughters had gone on wasn't lost on her, so she wasn't too annoyed when he hugged her to him a little tighter, eventually letting go.

He patted her shoulder and pulled Beth into a one-armed hug instead. "I want you to be happy. As long as you're happy, I'm happy." He pressed a kiss to Beth's head. "That goes for the both of you."

Maggie grinned. "He says I'm beautiful, Daddy. And I think he means it."

"He definitely means it," Beth chipped in. "Really, Daddy, he always smiles when he sees Maggie and does anything for her. He even wrote out all of his notes from classes for her. And there are like fifty pages from each class."

"Shut up," Maggie grumbled, but although her cheeks were hot she was smiling still. "I'm going to go do my chores, Daddy." She gave his arm a quick squeeze before jogging to the house, ignoring Beth's giggles and Hershel's chuckles as she told him about everything Glenn had done for Maggie.

Predictably, Tara had sent her a series of excited, fully capitalized, typo-filled texts about her date tomorrow, and Daryl, much to her surprise, had sent a congratulations and a blunt 'i'm here if u need anythin', which she could just imagine took him eons to work up the nerve to send. Lori had offered her help with what to wear, which Maggie took as a friendly comment rather than an insult about her fashion sense, and Shane had stolen Rick's phone to send a series of thinly veiled threats about how he'd make her life miserable if she upset Glenn. Which was slightly unexpected but also endeared him to her a little more; she thought all he cared about was banging Lori.

In fact, the only person who hadn't texted her was Glenn. Before she could read too much into it she sent him a quick message just asking how he was and peeled off her school clothes, throwing them into her laundry pile and shrugging on her jodhpurs. She tucked her phone into the waistband in case Glenn texted her back.

She had fed the horses and moved the cattle from one field to another when her phone buzzed against her stomach. She secured the gate and answered the call, leaning against the rusted metal bars, wiping her forehead and pushed her sweat-slick hair off her face. "Hey, Glenn."

"Hey, Maggie. You alright?"

"I'm great." She patted a cow as it wandered by her, grazing idly. "Need to exercise a couple of the horses but then I'm done with farm work. Think I'll do some homework and take a bath." That was her usual Friday routine, as long as Beth didn't need any help with her own work and took up her bath time so she had to go straight to family game night.

"Sounds like a plan. Hey, sorry for taking a while to get back to you; my sister's home and she wanted my help with something."

"Which sister?"

"Alex, one of the lawyers. She's here for the whole weekend but apparently this was so urgent that it couldn't wait." She could practically hear his eye-roll through the speakers.

"You wanna take a rain check on the date? I mean, it doesn't sound like you get to see them that often."

"Definitely not. They drive me insane and I'm not cancelling our date and quitting on you." There was a clunk and a scuffle and then she heard him swear. "Sorry. My dog tried to grab my phone."

She snorted. "Hey, Glenn?"

"Yeah?"

"You're such a dork."

"I know." There was a grin in his voice.

"I gotta go finish my chores."

"Okay."

"I'll text you later?"

"Okay."

"Are you listening to me?"

"Okay."

"I'm completely naked right now."

"Can I come over?"

"Talk to you later, Glenn."

"Bye, Maggie."

She hung up, smiling like an idiot. He was cute and she really needed to work on building up her immunity to that. She shook her head and went to exercise the horses.

* * *

"I don't know." Maggie huffed out a breath, fluttering a strand of hair that had fallen over her forehead. "I don't want to look…slutty, you know, but I want to look nice." Not that Glenn would judge her either way.

"I get you," said Lori's tinny voice through the phone. "Do you have any long tops or dresses? Like mid-thigh length?"

"Yeah, I have a couple," Maggie rifled through the wardrobe. "What are you thinking?"

"Tights and a nice top. Can't go wrong with that."

"Thanks, Lori. I owe you. Listen, I gotta go have a shower and finish getting ready, I'll talk to you later?"

"Yep, let me know how it goes!"

"Sure!" Maggie tossed her phone onto the bed and pulled out a light blue dress, holding it against herself. Suddenly every item of clothing she owned seemed unflattering and made her look like a turnip.

"You know, Glenn would still like you if you turned up wearing a potato sack," Beth said from the doorway, yawning at the end of her sentence. Her sister usually didn't get up until midday on Saturdays, but to support her sister she had set her alarm clock to ten just for that morning.

Maggie smiled. "I know." He would probably compliment her on how nice she looked as well. "But I want to make an effort." She wanted to not look like a turnip.

"Then make an effort, but stop stressing about it. Glenn's head-over-heels for you; Carl said that Rick told him that Tara showed him her texts with Glenn and he's always talking about you. In a non-creepy way," she added.

"You could help me stop stressing by doing my chores for me," Maggie grinned, giving Beth her best puppy-dog eyes. It would give her an extra hour which she didn't really need, but she was going to exploit any opportunity she had to avoid doing her errands.

Her sister rolled her own eyes but agreed, skipping off. Maggie headed to her en-suite and showered quickly, wrapping her hair up in a towel turban when she got out and letting her skin air dry as she rummaged around in her make-up drawer.

Her phone vibrated on the desk with a new text message. 'I booked two tickets for the film at 3:15. Still okay to be picked up at 2:30? x'.

Maggie replied one-handed as she hunted for a clean bra. 'Yep and thanks. Can't wait x'. She dressed quickly in her underwear and tights, and slipped on the dress after a moment's deliberation, frowning at herself in the mirror.

Glenn's text of 'Me neither. Have to admit, I'm nervous x' settled her anxiety a little as she remembered that this was a new experience for both of them.

She could do this.

* * *

At 2:30 exactly, Glenn pulled up outside the house, texting her to let her know and then knocking on the front door as well. The knock and text arrived just as she was applying her mascara, so Beth got to the door first and began gossiping with him eagerly as Maggie raced down the stairs.

Hershel was in the barn and Maggie wanted it to stay that way so he didn't give Glenn the third degree, so she shoved a squeakily protesting Beth out of the way with a hurried "thanks, love you, bye" and slammed the door behind her, running straight into Glenn. "Sorry," she mumbled, her nerves suddenly active again, aware of how their bodies were pressed right up against each other.

Glenn smiled. "You look lovely," he said quietly, with an almost reverent tone underlying his words.

She kissed him quickly, taking his hand. "Thanks – you too." She led him down the porch steps to where he'd parked. "Is this your car?"

Glenn shook his head. "Dad's. Don't have a car of my own yet."

"But you know how to drive, right?" she teased, dropping his hand so they could get into the car.

"You'll find out," Glenn said, turning the keys in the ignition and winking. Maggie pulled her seatbelt on and ran her hands through her loose hair.

"Have you seen the trailer for the film?" she asked as he started to drive up the long road leading out of the farm.

"Uh, yeah. It looks like it's either going to be great or terrible."

"That's what I thought. A horror film based around Facebook? It'll be interesting." She watched him as he drove, how he narrowed his eyes when he concentrated and smiled a little whenever she talked.

Their conversation about the film began to die down as they neared their destination, and the last few minutes were spent in a comfortable silence before her brain decided to break it for her. "You're cute," she blurted out when they were parked outside the cinema, and then slapped a hand over her mouth. Crap, did she really just say that? She was such an idiot.

Glenn just beamed at her and oh God he looked so adorable that she was caught off guard when he leant forward and kissed her, his teeth tugging on her lower lip gently and his hand tracing her jawline. She twisted her waist to sink into the kiss, gasping at how gentle but sensual Glenn was and someone with the face and personality of an angel shouldn't be able to kiss like this but she was glad he could.

She pulled back for breath reluctantly. Glenn's lips looked red, swollen, and there was a hint of a flush high on his cheeks and she really wanted to kiss him again and again because he looked beautiful like that, but at this rate they were going to miss the film and thus prime cuddling opportunity. She voiced that thought (apart from the last part because that was just embarrassing) and he laughed and agreed, brushing his knuckles against her cheek.

She melted a little bit inside at the affection in his gaze when he did that and hid her face so he wouldn't see her stupidly wide smile.

* * *

Glenn had booked them the posh chairs, it turned out, the ones that were cushioned and reclined and came with free popcorn, and Maggie was curled up on Glenn's lap with her legs flung over her own chair before thirty minutes had passed.

She had one eye watching the film and the other one hidden in his chest, her hands curled in his shirt. She could feel his breath rippling her hair and hear his faster than normal heart-rate and was sure that hers was the same, both from the film and her proximity to Glenn.

The film (despite being based around unfriending someone on social media) was good and far scarier than she had anticipated, so her snuggling close to him was a fairly even split between just because she could and genuine need for some human contact to comfort her because holy shit the film loved its jump scares.

Either way, Maggie contemplated, it was working to her advantage – she could smell pure Glenn underneath cinnamon and vanilla and he had his arms wrapped around her, holding her tight, his lips nuzzled into her hair.

* * *

The landscape was turning greener, trees becoming more densely packed together and grass growing longer as they got closer to the farm. Maggie watched it out of the window as they chatted about the film, trying to estimate how long until they got home.

"I liked the bit at that old factory, it was so atmospheric," she mused, and then recognizing the stretch of road they were on, she added, "Hey, there's a lay-by just ahead. Pull over?"

"Uh, sure." Glenn swerved into it and looked at her, expectant and confused, and this time he was the one caught unawares as she clambered onto his lap and kissed him sloppily. She leant back too far and sat on the horn, startling them both, and Glenn broke off the kiss that was mostly teeth and spit but oh so good to scrabble the key out of the ignition and then moved his seat back so she wasn't pressed up the wheel, then reignited the kiss in a slightly less messy fashion.

She didn't want to break away so she just breathed into the kiss instead, panting heavily into Glenn's mouth and whimpering when he dipped into her mouth with his tongue. She had never understood the appeal of tongues before (frankly it sounded pretty disgusting) but Glenn was working clumsy magic with his and honestly she felt like she was going to explode from the feeling and –

"Maggie!" came Beth's desperate shriek. Maggie jerked away in surprise, hitting her head on the roof of the car and groaning. A second later Beth's panicked face appeared at the passenger side window, her face colouring when she saw their position.

Glenn waved, his other hand rubbing gently at where she'd smacked her head and looked between the two sisters uncertainly.

"I heard the horn and then when you didn't come back I thought maybe you'd crashed so I came to check," Beth explained, biting her lip. "Sorry."

"No, it's…it's fine," Maggie said, dropping her forehead to Glenn's gently. He smiled at her, eyes half-closed, and murmured, "Maybe we should get back to the farm now."

Maggie nodded, slithering off his lap as gracefully as she could manage, and readjusted her slightly crinkled dress. It had ridden up when she had moved to straddle him and the last thing she needed was Daddy thinking she and Glenn had been up to no good.

"You want a ride, Beth?" Glenn asked, starting the engine up again and readjusting his seat. The blonde slid into the back gratefully.

"Thanks. Kind of puffed from running all the way up to the drive." She was silent until Glenn parked outside the house again.

Glenn got out of the car to say goodbye and hugged Beth upon her insistence, and then did the same with Maggie, kissing her on the cheek as well.

Glancing behind her when she heard crunching footsteps on the gravelly dirt, she saw Hershel heading over with a friendly smile on his face, and pulled away from Glenn a little so he could see as well. "Hey Daddy," Beth called, bouncing over and enveloping him in a hug.

Maggie sighed and turned to face Glenn with an apologetic smile. "Sorry, Daddy's a little excited that I went out on a date. Never happened before so he's being a little overprotective."

"Hey, it's sweet. My dad just told me I should be spending my time studying and I was never going to be a doctor at this rate." He didn't sound bitter about it, like he was used to being constantly put down by his parents. Maggie tried not to think too hard about the implications of that and just squeezed his hand a little tighter.

Hershel was close enough now that Maggie went to hug him, leaving Glenn standing awkwardly by himself until Beth took pity on him and skipped forward, chattering nineteen-to-the-dozen about their new bull and his beastly temper while he alternately nodded and frowned at her farm jargon.

"Daddy, this is Glenn," Maggie said when Beth finished her story, going to stand by his spare side and taking his hand again.

Glenn shook Hershel's hand and asked how he was and nodded when Hershel explained his gammy leg, and then Beth asked excitedly if they could show Glenn the farm, which Hershel said was fine and then excused himself to go sit down, so they showed Glenn the barn and the fields and they were all surprised when it turned out he had a natural affinity with horses when he calmed down Nervous Nellie with just a quick stroke, but not so much with the goats who leant into Beth's touch when she petted them but refused to let Glenn anywhere near them, much to Maggie's amusement, and she made up for it by kissing him hard while Beth gagged in the background and busied herself with the goats so she didn't have to watch.

They avoided going too near the bull because Beth had unwisely chosen a red shirt that morning, and he was already pawing at the ground and lowing when they went by his field and Maggie didn't think having a 2500-pound bull mutilating your boyfriend was the best way to end a first date no matter how much Glenn liked her.

(Later that night Hershel told Beth to find someone who would love her as much and treat her as well as Glenn would with Maggie, but that was unknown to the both of them until he said it at their wedding ten years later.)

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> (in case u were wondering the film i was referencing
> 
> it's Friend Request
> 
> and it's actually really good and genuinely scary and u should go see it
> 
> it's based around Facebook but yet not cringey?
> 
> anyway v good a mix of jumpscares and atmospheric creepiness
> 
> go see if u like horror films)


	4. Chapter 4

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> okay people 3 things  
> 1\. this chapter is p long and i'm very proud of myself please leave some kind of feedback because i thrive off positive validation  
> 2\. in america do u have school trips? like to different states etc. because in england the only trip we had was a history one to france to see the battlefields so i have no idea if u have them in america but if u do i was thinking it could be a chapter  
> 3\. i had my history exam yesterday and i asked my teacher a little while ago what it would be on (we're doing the russian revolution) and he said "oh nothing before 1917 and nothing after 1921 because that's the course specification" and i was like "but we spent ages doing the build up to 1917" and he was like "yeah that's not in the exam" so i was like cool beans i won't revise that as much  
> then i go into the exam  
> and the compulsory question is on the 1920s  
> and then the optional questions are about 1914-1917  
> and the late 1920s  
> WTF

“Morning.”

Glenn turned around at the sound of Maggie’s voice, smiling tiredly at her. “Morning,” he replied, yawning at the end of the word and covering his mouth bashfully.

“Late night?” she teased, opening her locker to retrieve her books and folders.

She thought she saw the faintest hint of a blush cover his cheeks but it was difficult to tell under the school’s budget lighting. “I was busy. No, wait, that sounds…I was finishing something off. And that’s not any better.” He sighed, his eyes pleading with her to understand.

“Hey, we’re in a relationship now,” she cooed, giggling at his distressed expression. “You don’t have to hide this stuff from me.” She kissed his cheek, leaning against him and nuzzling into the juncture between his shoulder and neck.

He sighed at her but wrapped his arms around her anyway. “You know what I meant,” he grumbled at her, but kissed the top of her head and squeezed her tightly. It had become a kind of ritual for them in the mornings, gave Maggie the confident she needed to cover up her shyness and insecurities until she could get home and relax in her own skin.

“What were you doing then?” she asked curiously as he released her from the hug and ruffled his hair to push it from his forehead.

“Nothing important,” he replied, a little too quickly. He shoved a black spiral-bound notebook into his locker and then slammed it shut.

Guilty. She narrowed her eyes at him. “What’s in the book, Glenn?” She crossed her arms over her chest to appear more intimidating. (And amplify her cleavage for maximum distraction.)

He glanced down momentarily, eyes roaming over the wide expanse of skin he could see, and then a glint came into his eyes. “I don’t know what book you’re talking about,” he said airily, taking a step towards her.

She didn’t back away. “The book you just put away in your locker.”

“Oh, that book.” He stepped forwards again and gently uncrossed her arms, gripping her wrists gently. “Well,” he pressed a disgustingly adorable kiss to the tip of her nose (and no she did not squeak because it was so cute and unexpected thank you very much) and continued, “it’s none of your business.”

She raised her eyebrows in mock outrage and gasped, “None of my business?” Maggie was sure that if she glanced in a mirror at that moment her eyes would hold the same playful sparkle as Glenn’s did.

“None of your business, Miss Nosey.” He was close to her now and had a lazy grin on his face like he knew exactly what this was doing to her (because he did).

She adopted a stern expression, fighting to hold back the grin, and protested, “I am so not nosey.” Total lie.

The scowl was wiped off her face when Glenn murmured, “Yes you are” right on top of her lips and then kissed her lightly, gently, only deepening the kiss when she pressed her body against him to show that she wanted it as well. He let go of her wrists and she immediately slung them around his neck in a loose knot as she melted into his embrace.

“You know, some of us only just ate,” Tara complained from behind them.

* * *

Maggie forgot about the book after that until it reappeared in Tara’s hands at lunchtime sometime the following week. It was acting as a tray for her lunch until she sat down, at which point it was placed to the side in favour of sandwiches.

“You have the book!” Maggie gasped, reaching forward with outstretched fingers. “Glenn’s book! Can I see it?”

Tara made as if she was going to hand it over but then hesitated. “He told me not to give it to anyone,” she said slowly. “And that he’d kill me if anyone saw what was inside. And Glenn tends to make good on his threats.”

“Yeah, well, I’m his girlfriend, I have special rights. Besides, he won’t kill you.” She made grabby hands at it beseechingly but Tara whisked it away from her grasp.

“Sorry, Mags. I gave Glennjamin my word, and I wouldn’t put it past him to seriously wound me,” Tara said, very unapologetically and with a shrug.

“What’s he got in there?” Andrea asked, popping a crisp into her mouth and examining the exterior of the inconspicuous notebook curiously, elbowing Michonne so she’d glance up from her phone (she was looking at swords again).

“Gotta be porn if he’s that protective over it,” was Shane’s contribution.

Lori rolled her eyes. “I doubt he’d be carrying porn around school with him.” Michonne nodded in agreement, forehead creased in thought.

Once again it was Daryl who surprised them all. “It’s a sketchbook,” he mumbled, busy reading through a textbook and only half-focused on their conversation.

“What?” Maggie asked incredulously. She had no idea that Glenn drew, or did anything art-based at all.

“S’why he has it with him all the time. Has to turn something in for his art project ‘nd Miss Espinosa’s helping him choose the sketch he’s going t’paint. Gotta choose by Friday.” He glanced up self-consciously, chewing on the skin around his thumbnail. “Korea left it ‘til last week so now he’s rushin’ t’finish.”

“Presumably not porn then,” Andrea cut in, rolling her eyes at Shane.

“I had my suspicions too,” Rick confessed. He bumped Shane’s proffered first reluctantly and dodged the lettuce that Michonne aimed at him indignantly. “Hey, it’s always the ones who seem innocent who watch porn, and Glenn qualifies as innocent. He has the puppy dog eyes and everything.”

Maggie let their conversation (argument) wash over her like oil on water as she propped her chin on her linked fists and stared at the ebony cover of the sketchbook, contemplating what on earth it was that he was hiding in there.

* * *

She didn’t see Glenn until the last period of the day and as soon as Ms. Peletier handed out sheets and told them to work in pairs, she pounced.

“Art project, huh?” She opened her copy of Macbeth more forcefully than she intended. She thought she heard the spine creak and calmed down a little. “You do art?”

Glenn flushed, ducking his head. “Yeah, I do art,” he mumbled.

“You didn’t tell me.” She dropped her head to his level, trying to get a good look at his face, but he just kept on going down until they were both molesting the table. He gave in and talked when it was physically impossible to go any lower, but kept his face pressed against the wood anyway.

He muttered something that sounded like “‘s serous thing” which after some gentle prodding and nuzzling against him (checking that nobody was watching first), turned out to be “it’s embarrassing”. After some more cooing and snuggling he finally got the message that she thought it was cute and he didn’t need to be ashamed, and then they had to hurry to finish the classwork in the last ten minutes of the lesson so she forgot to ask what it was exactly that he was drawing because she was more focused on extended metaphors than anything else.

At the lockers he pulled out the book but before she could ask, reminded by the sight, he had kissed her cheek and was running off down the corridor, shouting something over his shoulder about meeting Miss Espinosa.

She watched him go with a fond smile and vowed to find out what he was so protective over.

* * *

Glenn had rarely been around all week, spending all of his spare time in the art room racing to finish his project, but had called her every night instead to check up on her and ask her about her day. She felt sorry for him; he sounded tired and whenever she caught sight of him around school he looked exhausted. Daryl didn’t feel as sympathetic, telling her that they’d had the entire semester to complete the project and Glenn hadn’t even decided on what he was going to do until the last minute. Still, as his girlfriend, she was meant to be worried about him when he was stressed so she ignored Daryl and went about fussing over Glenn to anyone who would listen.

About to head home on Friday, she shoved the last of her books into her bag, groaning at the weight (which was roughly equivalent to how much work she had left to do) when Glenn practically tackled her from behind in a massive hug. He apologised profusely for almost knocking her over and carried her bag as far as he could (to the school gates) and happily kissed her goodbye while Beth pretended not to see them and played something on her phone.

“My parents are going out for a work conference this weekend,” he murmured, stroking her hair back from her face so she could see him and then immediately letting it drop right back again. “I need to catch up on sleep tonight but do you want to do something on Saturday or Sunday? It’s okay if you’re busy, I just thought because we hadn’t seen each other much you might want to—”

She cut off his rambling with a quick kiss. “I’d love to. Text me?”

“Course.”

As she was walking away, Glenn heard, very distinctly, Beth saying, “He is so grossly in love with you.”

Less distinct but still clear was Maggie’s reply. “Good thing I’m grossly in love with him too.”

* * *

**To: Tara, 5:37pm**

Hey, you know Glenn’s address?

 

**From: Tara, 5:38pm**

yes

 

**From: Tara, 5:38pm**

why

 

**From: Tara, 5:38pm**

u gonna

 

**From: Tara, 5:38pm**

u know

 

**From: Tara, 5:39pm**

have fun

 

**To: Tara, 5:53pm**

Not in the way you think Miss Gutter Brain

 

**From: Tara, 5:54pm**

wait

 

**From: Tara, 5:54pm**

why didnt Glennjamin give u his address

 

**To: Tara, 5:56pm**

I’m surprising him

 

**To: Tara, 5:56pm**

Don’t tell him

 

**From: Tara, 5:56pm**

no worries my man

 

**From: Tara, 5:57pm**

woman

 

**From: Tara, 5:58pm**

i’ll just send him a series of winky face emojis

 

**To: Tara, 6:02pm**

Look I’m planning to watch movies + eat popcorn + snuggle

 

**To: Tara, 6:02pm**

No winky face emojis involved

 

**From: Tara, 6:03pm**

ooooh watching movies + snuggling…

 

**From: Tara, 6:03pm**

hmmmmmm….

 

**From: Tara, 6:03pm**

netflix and chill?

 

**From: Tara, 6:03pm**

interesting…

 

**To: Tara, 6:17pm**

Give me the fucking address you nerd

* * *

Glenn’s house was nice, a bit bigger than hers (which was reasonable considering his array of sisters) with a front garden that was on just the right side of overgrown to look nice and an empty driveway that looked like it would normally hold three cars at least.

And damn was it domestic.

Maggie swung open the freshly-painted white gate, which was situated within the freshly-painted white picket fence, and walked up the weed-free driveway to knock on the wooden door with a stained glass panel. She looked down; she was standing on a doormat that read ‘Everyone is a friend here!’ Slightly cheesy but cute.

She knocked again, waited a few minutes and then pulled out her phone.

**To: Tara, 9:17am**

I think he’s out

 

**To: Tara, 9:17am**

Nobody’s answering the door

 

**From: Tara, 9:18am**

oh honey

 

**From: Tara, 9:18am**

its not noon yet

 

**From: Tara, 9:18am**

and u think g will b awake?

 

**From: Tara, 9:19am**

u r so young & naive

 

**From: Tara, 9:19am**

oh my child

 

**To: Tara, 9:20am**

How do I wake him up

 

**From: Tara, 9:21am**

one cannot wake up mr tai chi on a weekend w/out slapping the shit out of him

 

**From: Tara, 9:21am**

trust me

 

**From: Tara, 9:21am**

we have had some eventful sleepovers

 

**To: Tara, 9:21am**

So what do I do

 

**From: Tara, 9:23am**

there r 7 plant pots on the porch

 

**From: Tara, 9:23am**

only 1 holds orchids

 

**From: Tara, 9:24am**

underneath this pot: a key. how marvellous

 

**To: Tara, 9:26am**

Thank

 

Maggie crouched down and pulled the orchid pot up cautiously. True to Tara’s word, there was a silver key underneath, slightly damp and covered in a few speckles of dirt. She wiped it off on her jeans.

It slotted into the door’s lock easily, and she turned it the wrong way four times straight before realising her mistake and finally swinging the door open to be greeted by a mass of golden fur and slobbery tongue licking.

“Hey, Toto.” She patted the Golden Retriever as it danced around her and texted Tara to find out the name. ‘Katie or alternately Lil Miss Doggo if ur me but everyone else says thats a stupid name,’ was the worryingly quick response. “Well then, Katie,” she mused. The dog’s tail wagged when she heard her name, panting happily. Maggie loved dogs. All they needed was the slightest attention and they were the happiest creatures on earth. “Let’s go find Glenn.”

At his name Katie’s ears perked up and her head tilted to one side; when Maggie repeated what she had said, the dog bounded towards the stairs, glancing back to check that Maggie was following (she wasn’t but she started to at that inquisitive gaze) and then vaulted straight up in a few leaps. She went straight to the door furthest from the stairs, the only one that had been left ajar, and nudged it open with her nose and trotted inside.

As quietly as she could, Maggie pushed the door open more and padded inside, grinning when she saw Glenn still in bed, covers halfway down his body and half his face hidden in the mountain of pillows. He was wearing an old oversized grey T-shirt and some sweatpants of the same colour, and on the small table next to his bed was a pair of glasses. Interesting.

Katie scrabbled around in a pile of mismatched blankets and cushions that was in the middle of the floor and then settled down, going straight to sleep after sending Maggie one more adoring glance. Maggie guessed that the Rhees hadn’t got her for her guard dog skills.

Glenn’s room was minimalist: he had a wardrobe with drawers in one corner of his room, his bed in another, with a long, tall bookshelf taking up another wall. All the practicalities and no personality, which was a little odd. Then she remembered him saying his parents were strict; maybe they didn’t let him or his sisters put anything personal in their rooms. What a sad childhood Glenn must have led.

Maggie skimmed the titles on his bookcase, not surprised to see that most of them were sci-fi and fantasy novels and smiled at an entire shelf full of pictures of his family. Maybe Mr and Mrs Rhee did allow some personality after all. She picked up a framed photo that was right at the front, obviously of Glenn’s sisters – they all looked strikingly similar and like feminine versions of Glenn, same eyes, same face shape, same colouring. They were smiling at whoever was behind the camera, arms looped around each other. It looked natural and happy, a photo taken when they were genuinely laughing and having a good time rather than when they were posing.

She put it back carefully and stepped back, bumping into his desk. Whirling around, she checked she hadn’t disturbed anything – not that there was much to disturb. There was a total of four items: a decent-sized TV with some kind of games console plugged into it, a laptop and…

Oh. My. God.

The sketchbook.

Checking that Glenn was still asleep (and drooling slightly, aw) she very gently picked it up, cradling it in her hands like some kind of quadrilateral new-born child. She would have liked to say that she felt a twinge of guilt but actually she just felt elated at this opportunity that probably would never come again.

She carefully flipped open the front cover.

It was her.

A series of pencil lines converged together to make up her face, the curve of her nose and her wide grin, her hair falling over her face.

Nearly the entire book was filled, and each page with something on contained her face or some part of her face. There was a double-spread dedicated to her nose, and page after page of her eyes, some coloured in but some only shaded, with others abandoned halfway through and started again.

With a soft sigh she reclosed the book and laid it back down reverently. She had no idea why Glenn was embarrassed of his talent; the drawings were brilliant and had so much care etched into them. And drawing her was one of the cutest things she could think of, and him being so flustered about it just made it even better.

She toed off her shoes and shoved her phone into one of them, checking it was on silent, and then tiptoed across the room, very gradually peeling back his covers and sidling onto the mattress next to him, curling up against his warm body.

She dozed off, satiated by his nearness and body heat, and only came to when he began to shift against her.

“Oh, hey, Maggie,” he mumbled, kissing the top of her head then the back of her neck, and wrapping his arms around her to tug her close to him and then drifting back off to sleep.

This time it was her giggling that woke him.

“Wait…Maggie?”

“Yep.”

“You’re in my bed.”

“I came round to watch movies but you were still asleep.”

“Oh. Okay. Um. Well…I need to pee.”

“Go ahead. I’m not going anywhere.”  She laughed as he clambered over her, so careful not to accidentally knee her that he ended up falling on the floor and receiving an enthusiastic licking from Katie much to his loudly-voiced annoyance.

When he was out of the room Katie settled herself back down and Maggie rolled out of the bed (with a little more grace, but then again she wasn’t trying to avoid causing someone injury) to inspect Glenn’s DVD collection. Again she was unsurprised when the majority of them turned out to be of the same ilk as _The Matrix_ or _Inception_ , but much to her delight he also owned a copy of _Mean Girls_ (she should probably be thanking his sisters for that), which she put on just as Glenn came back in, looking remarkably more awake and smelling faintly of toothpaste. He watched her as she tried to navigate his remote. Maggie wondered if he was thinking about how inept she was with technology.

(It was more along the lines of ‘I’m so glad I didn’t wake up with morning wood because these sweatpants are very loose and Maggie would definitely have noticed’.)

 _Mean Girls_ was abandoned thirty minutes in (an act of sacrilege in any other situation) when Maggie changed position slightly and her thigh brushed against his groin, because even if Maggie had done that accidentally the beautiful way his breath hitched would have led to her straddling his lap anyway and doing whatever she could to hear that noise again.

He really didn’t want to come in his pants but Maggie seemed determined to make it happen with the dirty kisses and the deliberate changing tempo of her grinding down against the hardness in his lap.

The groans and gasps coming from his mouth where it was plastered against her neck combined with his wandering hands were more than enough for her but Glenn was the type of guy who would enjoy pleasuring her as much as she enjoyed doing the same to him, so when he’d climaxed with his head buried in her neck and his entire body shuddering while he panted and his cheeks flushed a beautiful red, she kissed him and looked into his eyes and then pulled her top off, chucking it somewhere on the floor.

He stared for a minute, transfixed, before swallowing and asking hoarsely, “You sure?”

Maggie nodded and guided his hands to the clasp of her bra and grinned as he struggled with it, eventually taking pity on him and telling him what to do, and then letting him take his time in peeling it from her skin because she could see how nervous he was.

His anxiety made him hesitant at first, trembling hands that barely dared to touch her, but he listened to her directions on what felt good, and she gladly let him lay them both down when he gained more confidence, throwing her head back and whimpering when he brought his mouth down to her soft breasts and slotted one of his legs between her, his hands gripping her hips just tightly enough to be hot.

She had her first orgasm there on Glenn’s bed and the pleasure that rushed through her made her toes curl and some kind of strange whiny howl erupt from her throat that Glenn seemed to interpret as pain until she kissed him hard and frantic and he finally understood that she had loved it, and they spent another hour rolling over each on his bed until she came three more times without shedding her jeans.

Maggie came up for air sometime after orgasm number four and ran her fingers through Glenn’s hair while they both gasped for breath. “You know,” she whispered against his now bare chest (that she had peppered with kisses and sucked several red marks onto the tawny skin), “I think it’s sweet that you draw me.”

He tensed for a fraction of a second before resuming running his hand down her spine lightly. “I was worried you’d think it was creepy,” he admitted.

“It’s sweet,” she told him truthfully. “Does this mean that your final project is one of those drawings in there? Daryl mentioned it.”

“Uh, yeah. Only me and Miss Espinosa see it, though. And you can if you want when I get it back from marking.”

“Please.” She stretched a little, then grinned as she thought of something. “You have any other sketching paper? Like loose stuff.”

“Um, yeah. The second drawer in my desk, where I keep all my art supplies.”

Without a word she slipped down from the bed, fussing Katie a little when she raised her head hopefully, and fished out an A3 pad and a few pencils. “Draw me now,” she instructed, settling herself at the opposite end of the bed to him.

Glenn swallowed and he was obviously trying so hard not to just outright stare at her chest, bless him. “Do you wanna, uh, put something on or…?”

“Nah.” Feeling remarkably confident, Maggie leant back on her elbows, crossing one leg over the other, and shook her head so it fell over her face, something which Glenn was always trying to get it to do in whatever situation they were in. “Just don’t take this into school, babe.” It was the first time the pet-name slipped out but it felt right.

Glenn picked up a pencil and began making a few dashes across the page. “One word about French girls and I’m stopping,” he warned her, so focused on his drawing that he began frowning slightly.

Maggie just laughed. “I’m not a big fan of Titanic,” she admitted. “Fan of Leo though.”

“Careful, you’ll hurt my feelings.”

“You know you’re the only one for me.”

Glenn looked up at her and smiled and oh that smile would stop her from breathing one day. “Would it be unromantic to say ‘ditto’?”

“Very.”

“Hmm. Right back atcha, then.”

She poked him with her toe, pouting, but inside her heart was about to explode from the love she felt for him, and her stomach felt warm and her entire body just tingled with the adoration he constantly showered her with and she really hoped he felt the same things, because she really did love him and she needed him to know.

(He did.)

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> guys you have no idea how long I have spent on word and on this site's editor trying to do the formatting for the texting parts like i'm legit about to cry
> 
> anyway i love you all, thanks for so many lovely reviews already and maybe some more? <3


	5. Chapter 5

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Okay guys hear me out
> 
> I’m feeling really weird right now because
> 
> This lovely person on tumblr maggiegrheene recently added me to her fic recs list because an anon told her about me which I’m assuming is one of you guys (or someone on another of my fics) and I’m crying basically I’m so overwhelmed this is incredible?
> 
> Secondly I feel like this chapter is really bad but I felt like I needed to just write something or I never would get round to it
> 
> Thirdly I am confused because my neighbour turned up at my door like half an hour ago and in true finding nemo style went “have you seen my son” and I was like “no I don’t keep a lookout for male toddlers sorry” and apparently her 3 year old has gone walk about which frankly I find kind of funny because I have a sneaking suspicion that he’s in their back garden judging by the giggles I can hear coming from there
> 
> Fourthly my dog was sleeping on my lap earlier (as usual) and she stretched in her sleep and TOOK A CHUNK OF FLESH FROM MY THIGH so I am in PAIN
> 
> Fifthly it is too hot and it’s making me grumpy and miserable and irritated

 

Maggie was too busy reminiscing on last Saturday with Glenn to pay proper attention in Biology class, so when Tara jumped out of her seat and began to walk up to the front of the room, where their strange but kind teacher was behind his desk, she was mildly confused. Looking around, she noticed that everyone else was doing the same, so she quickly followed suit and nudged Tara.

“What’s going on?” she hissed, as they joined a line filing towards the desk.

Tara rolled her eyes but muttered back, “We’re doing a project. Mr Porter’s written all the different titles down and we’re pulling them out of hat. All about different organs in the body or something.”

“Are we working in pairs?” They both took a step forward as the line moved, a girl who Maggie thought was called Sasha reaching into the top hat on Mr Porter’s desk.

“Nope. Alone. Two weeks. I wrote it all down; you can copy so you know what you’re doing.”

Maggie squeezed Tara’s arm. “Thank you. I was thinking about something.”

Tara just snorted as she stepped up and grabbed a piece of paper out of the proffered hat. “Let me guess, you were daydreaming about your ‘date’ last weekend.”

Maggie flushed. She had told Tara the basics of what had happened that morning in registration and now her friend was hell-bent on embarrassing her about it. Before she could formulate any kind of response, let alone an articulate one, Mr Porter interrupted. “Teenagers dating is a damn fine thing. Hormones flying around, schoolwork resting heavy on your shoulders; you need something to cheer you up. Ignore Tara, Maggie, she’s just upset that she can’t see her own partner as often as you can see yours.” He waved the hat at her and Maggie fumbled to grab a piece. That was the first time Mr Porter had ever spoken to her outside of lecturing and boy was he weird.

Tara seemed used to it: she frowned at him and then muttered, “You’re mean!” as she headed back to her desk, Maggie following. “He’s my personal tutor,” she explained when they both sat down. “I’ve had him for Biology ever since I started here. He’s kind of weird but he’s super nice.”

Maggie nodded and looked down at the slip of paper she had chosen. “What the hell is an alveoli?” she asked incredulously.

“That’s the plural. Alveolus is the singular.”

“Oh, sorry, let me rephrase: what the hell is an alveolus?”

Tara shrugged. “Something to do with blood I think. Gas diffusion? Anyway, here’s what you need to research about it.” She shoved her notepad away and examined her own scrap of paper.

The entire page was filled with bullet points running down both sides of the page; at the top, in capital letters, Tara had scrawled “presentation can be anything we want to do” and then in brackets “doesn’t have to be given in class”.

Well, at least Maggie didn’t have to stand up in front of everyone and humiliate herself. That was something, she thought dismally, beginning to copy out the ridiculous amount of things they were supposed to be researching.

LINE BREAK

She heard Glenn before she saw him, halfway inside her locker as she tried to retrieve a pen that had fallen down the back. “Nice view,” was his comment as he patted her backside lightly.

She squealed in mock protest and then made a small noise of triumph as she secured the pen between her thumb and forefinger. “I’m more than just a pretty butt, you know.”

“Oh, I know.” He grinned at her as he put his own books away, then stepped into her personal space easily and kissed her. “So much more.”

A hot flush rose to her cheeks as they began to walk to have their lunch; she tried to ignore it by complaining about all the biology work she had been given to do, and how Tara was being very unsympathetic, and what even was an alveoli – sorry, an alveolus – and how she was probably going to do it as a poster with lots of pictures to distract from the fact that she knew nothing, at which point they reached the benches (empty) and Glenn shut her up by kissing her again.

She let him walk her backwards with their lips connected until her legs hit the wooden table and then he hoisted her up onto it easily, hands squeezing at her thighs and eliciting a squeak that Maggie didn’t think she was possible of making. Glenn didn’t seem to mind, just running his hands up her body to cup her face and comb through her hair, and they could have done it for hours if Michonne didn’t choose that moment to walk outside and tell them about how she was going to be sick if they didn’t stop right then (and made some worryingly convincing retching noises).

* * *

Maggie hadn’t even started her project by the following Friday, too busy trying to get every other bit of homework done first. Hershel asked if she needed to stop doing the farm chores so she could relax more but she refused; he was getting a gammy leg as he got older and she didn’t want to make him work more than he should have to.

Still, when she got home that night, she collapsed onto her bed rather than getting changed and going straight out again. She was exhausted, and she wanted to spend some time with Glenn this weekend, but between farm work and her homework (algebra, biology, history, English, French and physics) she wasn’t sure she’d have time.

Sighing, Maggie forced herself to sit up, fishing her phone out of her pocket to send Glenn a quick text. She was pleased to find one already waiting from him, sent just five minutes ago, and was surprised when she realised he was asking for her email address. She sent it back along with “I’ll talk soon, got animals to look after” and then rolled off the annoyingly comfortable bed she’d had ever since she was four or five.

She rushed through the chores, leaving Beth to finish off feeding the cows so she could hurry back, and kissed Hershel’s cheek and squeezed him in a brief hug before charging upstairs. She didn’t have another text but she did have an email, presumably from Glenn, and she accepted the automatic download of a document as she headed towards the shower to get clean again.

Maggie wondered idly what it was that Glenn had sent her, but before she could spend too much time thinking about it the water ran cold and she rinsed the shampoo out of her hair as quickly as she could and then hopped out and wrapped a towel round herself and ran back to her bedroom.

She didn’t even dry herself or shrug on something warmer before checking her phone, squinting at the small display screen. Then her jaw dropped. She stood staring at it for a few seconds before flicking her thumb across the screen to look through the entire document, and then she exited the document to find her contacts list and hit Glenn’s name hurriedly.

“What the fuck,” she said flatly as soon as he picked up her call. “Seriously, Glenn. What the fuck.”

“It’s what you need, right? I mean, I got Tara to send me the list of stuff you need and I researched it for you and I know you had loads to do anyway so—”

“Glenn, it’s great. Thank you. Thank you for doing all that.” She sat down, hardly believing that Glenn had sent her twenty pages of all the information she needed for her project that would have taken her the whole weekend to compile.

“Didn’t have as much to do,” he said nonchalantly, even though they both knew that he had as much work as she did, if not more because of the extra classes his parents insisted he took. “Knew you were getting stressed out about it.”

“I was, but…still. Thank you, Glenn.” She cleared her throat, feeling a lump building up. “I can probably get all of my other work done this weekend now, and get a start on this project.”

“If you need an extension you can just ask Mr Porter,” Glenn’s tinny voice informed her. “He’s pretty understanding about stuff like that, especially when he gives big projects.”

“I’ll give it a shot first. Thank you so much, Glenn, I don’t know how I can repay you.”

There was just a hint of lechery in his tone when he replied, “I can think of a few ways.”

“Bye, Glenn.” But she was smiling as she flipped open her laptop to get on with her work.

“Bye, Maggie. Love you.”

“Love you too.” The words slipped out without her really registering them, and she hung up and pulled her folders from her bag.

* * *

Glenn turned up on Sunday afternoon to help her with the algebra (she had spent over six hours puzzling over it before giving up and going to bed in the early hours of the morning) and helped her so much that it was done within half an hour and she actually understood some of what was going on.

Sitting on her bed, Glenn carded his hands through Maggie’s hair and hummed softly. “Thanks for all the help,” she murmured, rubbing her cheek against his thigh. “Seriously.”

“No problem.” He mussed her hair, pushing it forwards over her face, exhaling a soft puff of laughter when she mewled at him in annoyance. “How much work have you got left?”

“Just the project now. I decided to do a poster kind of thing, a big one. I printed all of the pictures I need so I just need to stick them on and write all the important stuff up.”

“Need any help?”

“You’ve already done enough.” She sat up carefully, making sure not to accidentally knee Glenn anywhere sensitive, and nuzzled her head into the firm muscle of his chest. “Just hug me for a bit.”

Obediently he wrapped his arms around her and pulled her close.

To Maggie, Glenn felt like home.

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Like honestly I feel like this is the worst thing I’ve ever written but I wanted you to have some Gleggie, if this even counts as gleggie because I spend way too much time on settings so it's more like "Maggie and then Glenn occasionally" which is weird because I love them both loads but probably glen a little bit more
> 
> Could you maybe please leave me nice comments because I got one this morning and I literally cried in the shower
> 
> Just remembered that I’m on my period so that may be why I’m so fucking emotional today


	6. Chapter 6

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Warning: this chapter contains a panic attack. I described it from my own experience of them so I would be careful if things like this can upset you/trigger you.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> well i have no excuse for how late this is!!!!!!!!!!!  
> i just got so sad for a while bc of twd spoilders about glenny-boy which i so hope are NOT true but i have a sinking feeling they are  
> and i actually cried whenever i thought about it (lame)???????????  
> so trying to write gleggie ruined me basically  
> but now im back and fuck yeah lets do this

The first thing Glenn noticed about Maggie when she came into school on Monday morning was that she didn’t come into school. Not on time, anyway; she ducked in five minutes after the bell had rung, muttering an apology to their homeroom teacher and hurrying over to sit by him.

“Overslept,” she said before Glenn could ask her, and continued to hang her head. “Alarm went off but I didn’t wake up.”

“Wanna look at me?” he tried, finding her hand underneath the table and tracing small patterns on her palm.

“Not really.” Maggie cleared her throat, shaking her head so her hair would fall to cover her face. “I woke up this morning with a massive pimple.”

Glenn rolled his eyes. He would never understand girls and their spot obsessions. “Maggie, you’re beautiful whether you’re covered in pimples or not. You can’t go the entire day staring at the floor; you’ll run into something or someone, and you won’t be able to see anything on the board in lessons.”

She turned her head to the side at that, gnawing at her lip. “Promise you won’t gasp or freak out or laugh?”

Glenn snorted. “Why would I do any of those things?”

A small smile tugged at her lips then, a shy one, barely visible, but there nonetheless. “Fine,” she grumbled, and lifted her head up, facing him square on.

“Um. Where is it?” Glenn squinted. There was a red mark on her cheek, but it didn’t look like a pimple to Glenn. It looked like a slight flush. Aside from that, her skin looked blemish-free.

“Right here!” Maggie pointed to a patch of flawless skin on her chin. “I didn’t have time to put any makeup on because I overslept, so it looks even worse.”

“Maggie, I can’t see it. Like, not at all.”

“Liar. You’re just trying to make me feel better.”

Glenn grinned at her. “Maggie, I’m not, I actually can’t see a thing. Your chin looks normal. I can’t _see_ anything.”

Maggie puffed out her cheeks. “Well, I don’t believe you. But thank you.” She beckoned him closer and planted a kiss on his cheek. “You’re cute.”

“Eh, you’re cuter.”

The bell rang, signalling first period, so Maggie didn’t have the time to stay back and argue with him about who was cuter because she had Calculus and Glenn had World History which was the very same classroom they had homeroom in, so he had to stay and she had to go. She vowed to repeat it at lunch, though.

By the time lunch rolled around she had forgotten all about it though, because she hadn’t had any more classes with Glenn to distract her from the massive pimple that she knew was there, and every time somebody had looked at her for even a millisecond she was convinced they were staring at the spot, so rather than meeting Glenn at their lockers and going to eat lunch together she dumped her books on a small shelf outside the classroom and ran to the nearest toilets, flinging herself into the nearest cubicle and fumbling with the lock.

Within seconds she found herself wheezing in the grip of a panic attack, falling back against the wooden door with a thud and sliding down, hands trying desperately to grasp something to support her weight. Her legs sprawled out in front of her uselessly, numb and un-cooperating.

She had no idea how long it was before distantly she heard the door open and someone stepping in, and then Tara’s voice. “Yo, Maggie, you going to sit by a crapper all day?”

“Tara…Tara,” she choked, trying to turn to listen to her voice but not succeeding. Her body wouldn’t listen to her brain, wouldn’t respond to anything that she wanted to do, wouldn’t goddamn be a body.

When Tara spoke again, her voice had gone from amused to concerned. “Mags, you good? What’s up? You sound like you can’t breathe.”

“Get Glenn.” She clutched at her throat again, trying to coax it into working, but her hands were trembling so much that all she really did was poke herself and make it worse.

“Okay, sure, getting Glenn, just don’t die, yeah?” Her shoes skidded on the linoleum floor as she got up and squeaked, too loud and piercing for Maggie’s head to deal with at the moment.

It felt like an eternity before there was a sharp knocking at the cubicle door that vibrated down through her body and made her wince, but she felt infinitesimally relaxed when she heard Glenn asking her to unlock the door.

With only a little bit of trembling Maggie managed to slide across the bolt lock and back away from the door just enough to allow Glenn in. He tumbled inside, tripping over his own two feet and nearly taking a dip in the toilet. “Maggie? Maggie, what’s wrong?” At her fumbled hand gestures, he shut the cubicle door and locked it again, then slid down ungracefully to sit next to her.

She tried to explain through a constricted throat and not enough air. “Just can’t breathe, Glenn.” She fished for his hand and found it, clinging to it desperately as he turned to face her and slid his free hand around to her shoulder, bracing her upright.

“You can breathe, Maggie, you know you can, your lungs are fine and your throat is fine and you can breathe, just be slow and focus on it, do it with me, okay?” She nodded, watching as he breathed in with exaggerated motions and then exhaled as well, trying her best to follow what he was doing. He praised her for it even though sometimes she stuttered and had to take a few quick breathes before she could get the rhythm back.

Stupidly the one concern that was on her mind wasn’t that her entire body was on fire, or that her lungs seemed to have disappeared or even that she was having a panic attack over a stupid pimple, but more that, “This is – the girl’s bathroom.”

“I know, it’s okay, Tara’s guarding the outside,” Glenn soothed, and as if on cue they heard Tara barking at someone to get lost and find another bathroom.

She scrabbled at it uselessly; now she felt the burning in her chest much more acutely and she couldn’t even choke out one word, let alone a sentence to tell Glenn that it was getting worse, but he seemed to understand (because he always did) and just pulled her a little closer to him, one hand cupping the side of her face and the other holding her hand still while he kept on breathing with her.

In what was probably less than five minutes but felt like an hour, her vision stopped being fuzzy and suddenly she could breathe again, not quite as easily as usual but definitely better than before, so she patted Glenn’s knee to tell him that she was getting there and he backed off and helped her lean back against the door again.

He kept one hand entwined with hers and the other rested loosely on his lap while she let herself calm back down fully, not trusting herself to speak until her heart had slowed down again. He didn’t fill the silence like he normally would but just let it sit between them comfortably, even though she knew that he had to be confused about what had just happened.

“Sorry,” she finally said, not meeting Glenn’s eyes. This was embarrassing enough.

“Don’t be.” She could feel his gaze on the side of her face but still refused to meet his concerned gaze. “What was…that?”

She sighed. “A panic attack. I used to get them a lot. Now I usually don’t, just when I have to give a presentation or take a big exam, you know? Normal situations are fine now, most of the time. I don’t know what happened, Glenn. I’m sorry.”

“For God’s sake, Maggie,” he snapped, and she flinched because she’d never heard Glenn be anything other than quiet and caring before and it sounded like it was directed at her, “don’t be sorry, I’m here to help with this kind of stuff. I want you to be happy, that is the only thing that I’m worried about at the moment, okay?”

She relaxed a little bit, because he wasn’t angry at her per say, just at how apologetic she was, and then when she finally turned to face him she saw the worried line creased between his eyebrows and realised that he was scared for and that was why he had shouted. Sliding into his embrace, she murmured, “I don’t know why it happened. I just got really…self-conscious and weird and usually it would just be that, but today it developed into so much worse and I don’t know why, and I’m saying sorry because I don’t know what else to say, Glenn, I don’t know how to explain what is going on.”

“Then don’t say anything,” he muttered back, tilting his head and slanting their lips together, nudging their noses together and licking along her bottom lip hesitantly. They were both reluctant to break away but Glenn made up for stopping by hauling her to her feet and hugging her so hard she thought her lungs might tighten up again.

“You can’t see it, honestly,” he said quietly. “And even if I could…I wouldn’t care. You know I find you absolutely stunning, Maggie.”

She ducked her head at that, back of her neck flushing pink at the compliment. “Shut up,” she mumbled, giving him a light shove but smiling.

“C’mon.” Maggie allowed herself to be led out of the cubicle to the mirrors that lined the walls above the sinks. The pimple was there, clear as day to her. Maybe it had gone down a little, but it was blindingly obvious to anyone who even glanced at her.

Glenn seemed to have different ideas. “See, Maggie, it’s not even there.” He rested his chin on her shoulder and wrapped his arms around her middle.

“I can see it.”

Glenn sighed. “Okay, Maggie, trust me – it’s not there. You just think it is because you’re so wound up about it, okay?” He waited for her to nod before continuing. “When did you notice it?”

“Last night. I had a shower and then I saw it.”

“Well, it’s obviously gone down since then, so much that you can’t see it, right? And you’re seeing it because you saw it last night and think it’s still there. Trust me, it is not there,” he cooed, tightening his hug.

“If you say so,” she acquiesced, though she didn’t really believe him. After a few more minutes of staring, they left together and bumped into Tara, who was pressed up with her back to the door.

“Mags, you okay?” she asked, then didn’t wait for an answer before she moved on to Glenn. “You owe me like fifty favours, dude.”

“I do, Tara, it’s my fault this happened,” Maggie cut in, voice still a little shakier than normal.

“You’ve just had a breakdown, Mags, so you don’t owe me anything, okay? Glenn, on the other hand.”

Glenn, used to Tara’s general rudeness towards him, just flipped her off and grabbed her by the jacket as he began to walk again, being considerably more gentle with the hand he had joined with Maggie’s. “Time to eat,” he announced loudly, over Tara’s grumbling protests in the backgrounds.

* * *

Glenn sat in front of his laptop later that night, which was running rather slowly considering he had twenty-seven tabs open. He was currently scrolling through one of them, trying to get his head around the complex neurological issue that was panic attacks. The websites didn’t seem to make any sense; the words by themselves were fine, plain, simple English, but put together Glenn couldn’t make head or tail of them. It just couldn’t get through to him, how somebody could get so worked up that their body would literally shut down on them. Stop working, make them feel like they were dying.

It seemed contradictory. The body had stuff like adrenaline which stopped you from feeling too much pain and made you able to run from danger, a way to make the blood clot when you cut yourself, a complex system of systems that all worked together impossibly.

But the body attacked itself over something like a pimple. It made no sense to Glenn.

Then again, it didn’t need to make sense for him to comfort Maggie. He had reacted instinctively; she wasn’t able to breathe, so he told her to breathe. But it seemed to be his presence that had helped her the most. She had asked for him rather than have Tara. So maybe that was the best thing he could do for her.

With that in mind, he slammed his laptop shut, grabbed his pyjamas from his bed and shoved them into his school bag, which was already packed for tomorrow. He shrugged on a jacket, slipped his phone into his pocket, and stepped into his trainers. “Mom, Dad! Poppy just called, her boyfriend dumped her, I’m going to go over and make sure she’s okay!” He poked his head around the living room door.

His mother set down her knitting with a sigh. “Matt? But he was such a gentleman! And so nice!”

“Yeah, I know, but sometimes it just doesn’t work out, Mom.” He fidgeted, rubbing at his nose. He glanced over to where his father was asleep in his armchair, relieved that he only had to lie to one parent tonight.

“I know,” his mom sighed again. Sensing that this was going to go on all night if he didn’t act, Glenn stepped back, grabbing the car keys from the table that sat just outside the door. “You’re a good boy, Glenn. Not many your age would go to check on their sisters.”

He felt a pang of guilt at that, but at least he was going to check on someone, not using it as an excuse to shoot heroin. “Well, I’ll see you tomorrow, Mom. Good night.”

“Night, sweetheart!”

He fired off a quick text to Poppy, to let her know of the lie he had just constructed so she wouldn’t give the game away, and climbed into the car, eager to set off. It was just starting to get dark now and he wasn’t entirely confident when it came to low visibility, so he drove as fast as he could without breaking the speed limit and arrived at the Greene farm just as the sun disappeared completely.

Luckily he got on well with Hershel; anyone else might have turned down their daughter’s boyfriend arriving with no warning at night, but the farmer simply smiled and gave him an equally warm hug. “Here to see Maggie?” he guessed, standing back to allow Glenn into the house.

Beth was sitting in the living room with a book in her hands and an overweight cat on her lap. She glanced up and smiled at him briefly before turning her attention back to what she was reading. “Yeah, she wasn’t feeling great at school today,” Glenn explained, wondering how much she had told Hershel when she got home.

Hershel nodded, so she guessed he knew something. “She told me she had a rough day and you were there for her,” he said gravely. “I appreciate it, Glenn.” He patted him on the shoulder.

Glenn fidgeted a little, not sure how to respond to that. “It was okay, I was happy to do it,” he finally settled on. “Has she been okay since?”

“Not fantastic, but not bad either. She’ll be happy to see you.! Hershel indicated the stairs with a wave of his hand, and Glenn gave him a final smile before heading towards them and bounding up to Maggie’s room. He knocked before entering, waiting for her quick, “Come in!” before he twisted the door handle and dragged his school bag in after him, grinning broadly at her.

“Hey,” he said simply, setting his bag down by her desk and digging out his pyjamas. He held them up to Maggie. “I thought you might want me to be here tonight.”

“Glenn – oh my God. Hey!” Maggie jumped up from her bed, wearing only a pair of panties and a vest top that did nothing to hide her figure. She wasn’t wearing a bra, either, as Glenn was made acutely aware of when she hugged him. “You didn’t have to.”

“No, I didn’t,” he agreed, tilting her head upwards with one finger under her chin, and pressing a small kiss to her nose. “But I wanted to, Maggie, I wanted to come check on you. Make sure you’re okay.”

Maggie was torn between annoyance and delight. She wasn’t delicate but she couldn’t say that she hated having Glenn be so worried about her. She settled for delight without any argument, and climbed back into bed, patting the space next to her. “I was worried about going to sleep,” she admitted. “I never sleep well after I have panic attacks. I’ll sleep better with you here. I hope.” She made a point of covering her eyes so Glenn could get changed, though he was sure that he caught a glimpse of her eyes every so often as she peeped at him.

He went to climb into bed with her, but she stopped him by sliding over to the free space and tugging at the hem of his shirt. “You’ll get too hot,” she explained, making her voice as innocent as possible. “Better if you take your shirt off.”

Glenn raised an eyebrow at her, but stripped it off anyway and slipped in beside her when she shuffled back over. They shifted a bit to find the best position, and ended up with Glenn on his back, leaning slightly towards Maggie, while she rested her head in the juncture between his shoulder and neck and threw her arm across his chest, the other one fondling his hair.

“Thank you, Glenn,” she said, so softly that Glenn barely heard her.

“You’re welcome, Maggie.”

He waited another five minutes before he murmured, “I love you,” staring up at her ceiling because he was going to stay awake until she fell asleep to make sure that she did fall asleep and get some rest.

“I love you too.” She drifted off to sleep soon after that, and when Glenn glanced down to make sure her face was relaxed and her mouth bent into a small smile. He kissed the top of her head and then closed his eyes too, pulling the covers up in case Hershel came in. He was self-conscious about his nipples.

Hershel did look in briefly, to check everything was okay, and smiled to see the two of them wrapped up in each other. He wondered whether he’d still be around for their wedding day.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I've been watching teen wolf now that the summer holidays have begun and guys  
> it is so ridiculous  
> like the first two seasons are pretty bad  
> but the plot is so interesting that i had to keep watching  
> and now in season 3b its really good  
> but i swear to god the first season is the funniest thing because they tried to make it so moody and dramatic but it is just so cheesy  
> and gabriel and karen are both in it which fucked me up for a while because they are now deaton and melissa and i couldnt remember that and was like "why is father gabriel working in a vet practice"  
> also i ship myself with stiles because hes such a dork (and im a lesbian, thats how much i like that dude)  
> AND HEY YOU KNOW WHAT WILL MAKE ME WRITE QUICKER AND UPDATE SOONER???????????????  
> feedback ;) ;) ;) ;) ;) ;) ;) ;) ;) ;) ;) ;) ;) ;) ;) ;) ;) ;) ;) ;) ;)


	7. Chapter 7

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Glenn breaks his leg and Maggie meets 1/2 of his sisters

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> OK
> 
> SO
> 
> It’s been fricking ages since I updated and there’s no excuse for it except for whenever I tried to write past the first line break I just deleted it all because?? It was so bad??? And I’m still not happy with this??? But it’s been so long so I thought I’d upload it now even though I’m not totally happy with this, I feel like it reads really badly and is incredibly BORING
> 
> But I just want to say that I have received SO MUCH lovely feedback and comments etc on this story and they literally made me cry because they were so sweet, like everyone was asking me to update and some ppl said it was their favourite gleggie fic and I think one person actually said all time favourite fic????????????????????????????? And one person said I was their favourite non-published author which actually made me have a meltdown to my friend over the phone and she legit had to tell me to breathe that’s how overwhelmed I was
> 
> I love you all so much for everything you’ve done for me by reading and commenting and honestly I might not reply to all of them or seem to appreciate it but I am SO BAD with words (as you can probably tell from this rambling mess of an author’s note and my chapters in general) so I cant always say it very well and imma shut up now because just thinking about all of the stuff you guys have said actually is making me cry again
> 
> Also pizza just arrived so I would have to go anyway. I love you all but I love my bae pizza more
> 
> (I love glenn/steven more than pizza and probably my dog too but everything else cannot compare)

 

Glenn couldn’t believe that his sisters had broken his leg.

They came back for one day to visit, and now his leg was in a cast up to the knee, and he had to cancel his date with Maggie.

“You should be the ones saying this,” he scowled at his phone, searching for Maggie’s contact. He refused to even look at them out of pure obstinacy, but they knew he was talking to them. He saw Poppy roll her eyes in his peripheral, while Charlotte threw her coat down on the sofa.

“If she even exists,” Poppy said slightly spitefully.

“Pops, shut up,” Glenn growled, hitting the call button and holding the phone to his ear.

Charlotte pulled her hair back into a ponytail and grabbed Poppy’s arm, dragging her into the kitchen. Out of the four of them, Charlie was the only sister who actually thought that Maggie was real “Give him some privacy,” she hissed as they went, shooting Glenn a smile over her shoulder.

Glenn could see why Charlie was such a great doctor. Tactful, comforting, and… “Glenn?”

“Hey, Mags,” he said slowly, biting his lip. He did not want to cancel this date. Maggie had been looking forward to it all week.

“We still on for this date, then?” He could taste the excitement in her voice.

“No.” Oops. Maybe he shouldn’t have been so blunt. He hurried to rectify the situation. “I want to, Maggie, I really do, but I can’t, you see, but if I could then I would love to—”

“Glenn, it’s fine. Why can’t you?”

“Oh. Yeah. I broke my leg. Well, I didn’t, my sisters did. No, well, actually, they didn’t physically break my leg, but they were responsible for the events which broke my leg.”

“Glenn, you need to relax sometimes. I’m sure you won’t heal quickly if you’re this stressed.” Thankfully she sounded amused and not at all annoyed. “Why didn’t you tell me your sisters were there? We could have postponed it anyway, and you might not have broken your leg.”

“I probably still would have done, they’re kind of dangerous. Which they shouldn’t be, because Charlotte’s a doctor and Poppy’s a lawyer, and their jobs are pretty much to stop people doing dangerous stuff.”

“What did they do?”

“They made me climb a tree because they climbed a tree and then couldn’t get down, so I had to rescue them and then the branch finally gave out when I was left on it and they both screamed and leapt out of the way so I didn’t have a safety blanket.”

“Want me to come over? We could watch a weird geeky movie that you like and I talk all the way through and eat popcorn and make out a bit and stuff.”

“Sounds good to me. If you’re happy for my sisters to maybe and unexpectedly gate-crash us.”

“I am overjoyed, Glenn. I’ll be over in an hour.”

* * *

An hour later, Maggie was curled up into his side on the sofa with a bowl of popcorn between them and two cups of tea on the low coffee table in front of the sofa. Charlie had made them the snacks and drinks and said hello to Maggie before tactfully taking Katie out for a walk with Poppy, saying they’d be back in a couple of hours.

 _The Matrix_ was playing in the background, chosen because it was one of Glenn’s favourite films and one that Maggie had always wanted to see, but despite her initial enthusiasm, she had abandoned the film in favour of running her hands up and down his body and pressing soft kisses to any and all bare patches of his skin.

Her actions weren’t done with the intent to arouse Glenn, but she was pleased when she realised that was exactly what was happening, and continued with an increased intensity, her hand sliding down from his chest to his groin, pressing lightly and swallowing his moans.

She was momentarily distracted when the TV screen went almost completely white, the sudden contrast of colour startling her as Laurence Fishbourne started talking about a construct, and Glenn took advantage of her inattention to grab her waist and gently slide her over onto his lap, taking care to avoid jostling the cast.

“You’re such a tease,” he murmured against her neck, scratching gently at her scalp as she gripped onto his shoulders.

“Teases don’t – ah – follow through on their actions.” Maggie rolled her hips against his, eliciting another groan from her boyfriend. She tried to reach down to slide her hand into his trousers but he grabbed her wrist, soothing her grunt of displeasure with a quick kiss.

“Don’t want to get caught with my pants down,” he murmured, tugging at Maggie’s light brown hair softly. He’d learnt how to talk just on the edge of dirty to make her blush and squirm but not be completely embarrassed, and how to deliver just the slightest bit of pain to sharpen her pleasure.

Maggie clucked her tongue and titled her head to the side. “Better be quick then.” Swiftly she swung her leg over his lap and crawled back, unzipping his jeans, licking her lips to make her intentions perfectly clear.

“Mags – you don’t have to,” Glenn said, trying to keep his mind as clear as possible, though he couldn’t help winding his hands in her hair already.

“I know I don’t have to.” She tugged his jeans down as best she could. “I want to, babe.”

* * *

Charlie and Poppy arrived back half an hour later, cheeks pink from the outside air, and Katie came galloping in and bumped against his cast a little painfully. He winced, and Maggie diverted the dog’s attention by patting her.

“It’s so windy outside!” Charlie exclaimed, brushing her hair away from her face. “Finished the film yet?”

“Not yet,” Glenn replied. “We rewound a bit.”

“I got a bit confused,” Maggie chipped in, smiling up at his sisters like she hadn’t just had her mouth around his dick. “There’s about forty minutes left.”

“We’ll come and chat when it’s finished then.” Poppy poked her head around the door and whistled to Katie. “See you later.”

When they were alone again Maggie snickered. “They look so surprised to see me here.”

“Yeah, they thought I’d made you up,” Glenn admitted, deliberately not looking at his girlfriend, or he knew he’d begin laughing too.

“What? Why?” she gasped, kneeling up and ignoring the film again.

“Because you’re cute and hot and awesome, and I’m not. I break my legs trying to rescue my sisters from trees, that’s why.” He snorted, mindlessly running his hands down her back.

When she didn’t reply, he looked down to make sure she was okay, and was confused to see her sombre expression. “What’s up?” he asked anxiously.

“You’re awesome too, Glenn,” she said seriously. “And cute, and hot, and funny, and sweet, and kind, and clever.”

He felt his cheeks go red so he looked away. “If you say so.”

“I do.” She settled back down against him, her head against his chest, but this time she grabbed his hand in her own and squeezed it.

She paid attention to the last half hour of the film, and miraculously seemed to understand it, so when the credits began rolling she wasted no time in grabbing the remote and turning the TV and DVD player off, and began talking in earnest about the finer points of the film.

“Oh my God, she’s pretty _and_ she’s nerdy!” came a sarcastic voice from the kitchen, followed by another distance call of, “Poppy, shut the fuck up, you were the head of your university sci-fi club.”

“She’s not pretty though!” Glenn called back, a small grin appearing when Poppy yelled an insult back that mainly consisted of swear words.

“I thought you said Poppy was the lawyer?” Maggie asked innocently, laying her head in his lap and giving him puppy dog eyes.

“She is,” Glenn answered, distracted by the way his heart was melting at her expression.

“I would have thought her debating skills would be more advanced,” she laughed, reaching up to drag her fingertips along his neck.

“Oh, don’t ever get into an argument with her.” Glenn smiled and closed his eyes at the sensation. “When she wants to properly argue, you can’t win. Even if she’s wrong, she’s just so determined. She once argued with my mum about whether zombies could ever exist and won, even with four doctors saying why it wouldn’t be possible.”

“Four?”

“The other sisters and my parents. They’re all surgeons. Nerds.”

“Woah, I didn’t know your parents were surgeons too.”

“Mm. Heart and brain. No expectations.” He rolled his eyes and dipped his head down to kiss her lightly, cradling her head with his hands.

“Daddy wants me to be a vet like him. I’m not sure I’m good enough at science, though.” She tangled her hands in his hair to keep him down at her level, kissing him slowly and passionately for an eternity, until they were interrupted by Poppy.

“Ew, gross,” she whined, setting two fresh cups of tea down and wrinkling her nose at them. “See, this is why I prefer Tara. You don’t make out with her.”

Maggie felt a little lump in her throat then; even though she knew that Poppy was joking about it (probably) she didn’t want Glenn’s sisters to prefer anyone else over her. Glenn seemed to sense her feelings, and quickly rectified the situation by sniping back, “You prefer Tara because _you_ want to make out with her.”

Poppy spluttered, for once lost for words, and then stomped out of the room, shouting over her shoulder, “I hope you can put him in place, Maggie, because none of us can!”

Once she was out of earshot, Glenn muttered, “She likes you, don’t worry.”

“I know,” Maggie replied, though she didn’t really.

“She doesn’t prefer Tara. She just knows her better, and wants to sleep with her.”

“Really? I thought you said that as a joke.”

“Nope. She’s a little obsessed with Tara. It’s good blackmail material.”

Maggie chuckled, then fell silent, lying across Glenn. “I want your sisters to like me. And your parents,” she said quietly and a little fearfully.

“They like you. My parents, I mean. They want me to do well at school and stuff, but mainly they want me to be happy. They can see how happy you make me, so they already like you. They told me to invite you over for dinner one day so they can finally meet you.”

“Really?”

“Really.” Glenn brushed his hand over her breasts and let it rest of her stomach, a comforting weight. “And now that they know you’re real and not an imaginary girlfriend, Charlie and Poppy love you too. And the others will too, when they meet you.”

Maggie blushed. “Shut up,” she said, but with no venom behind the words. She rubbed her nose, just for something to do.

Sensing she was out of her comfort zone now, Glenn quickly changed the subject. “I’ll be in the cast for another few weeks, so we might have to put a rain check on that restaurant date. Until then – there are another two _Matrix_ films?”

She grinned up at him. “Deal.”

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Ok so basically I love seeing one half of a ship interacting with the other half’s fam but I feel like maybe this had too much family interaction and not enough gleggie??? Idk please tell me
> 
> And also if you want a chapter of magster meeting g’s parents then pls let me know along with any other prompts
> 
> As mentioned this was a prompt so I hope I did it justice!!!!! And Cheese you only said “one of them breaking a bone” so I just rolled with leg and then a blowjob happened so whatevs


	8. Chapter 8

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> let's do the fork in the garbage disposal

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> so i'm pretending that episode didn't happen and in fact I am actually not going to be watching season 7  
> BUT  
> i will carry on my glenn/gleggie fanfictions, including this one and other assorted one shots  
> my current WIP is a backstory for Glenn (because a fricking goat got more of a history than him)  
> tell me if you have any more prompts for me either on here or at my tumblr asperger-girl  
> thank

Hershel arched his eyebrow as he looked at the Rhee house. “What do his parents do again?” He eyed the manicured lawn and painted fence that ran around the property.

“They’re surgeons, Daddy. I think his mum is the chief at that hospital in Atlanta – the one we took Beth to when she broke her arm.” Maggie unbuckled her seatbelt and smoothed down the skirt of her dress. It was simple and modest, coming down just past her knees and not showing any cleavage. She’d raided Beth’s closet for it, happy for once that they were roughly the same size. She touched one of the roses on the shirt.

“That explains it.” He kissed her cheek before she clambered out of the passenger seat. “Have fun, darling. Ring me when you want me to come pick you up.”

“Okay, Daddy.” Maggie looked down at herself. “I haven’t overdone it, have I?”

Hershel glanced at his daughter, at the elegant dress that showed off her figure, the natural make up she’d applied, and the gentle wave to her short brown hair. “I think you’ve done it just right,” he said warmly, smiling to himself when Maggie blushed and tucked her hair behind her left ear. “Love you.”

“Love you.” She watched as Hershel reversed carefully, then waved goodbye as he drove up the road and headed back to the farm. She waited until his car was fully out of sight before turning and walking up the drive towards Glenn’s house, compulsively smoothing down the dress. She gave herself a once over in the window of Glenn’s door and then pressed the doorbell.

From inside there was the sound of a dog’s claws tip-tapping along, then a little voice calling out for Katie to get back before the door was swung open. Maggie was greeted by a tiny woman, about a foot shorter than her, wearing a checked apron and a beaming grin. “You must be Maggie!” she said, in a heavily accented voice. “Please! In, come in!” She stood back and waved her in, smiling all the while.

Maggie took to her immediately. “It’s lovely to meet you, Mrs Rhee,” she greeted, giving Katie a quick pat.

“No! No!” Mrs Rhee exclaimed immediately, and for a second Maggie thought she had committed some kind of social faux pas. Then she continued, “Not Mrs Rhee! Annie! You are my daughter now, yes?” Her smile was so bright that Maggie couldn’t bring herself to point out that she and Glenn hadn’t been going out for even four months yet, so she just nodded and let herself be embraced.

She missed her own mother (though Patricia was a brilliant step-mum) and she felt tears start as Annie gave her a little squeeze before releasing her. Noticing the shimmer in her eyes, Annie exclaimed, “Dear! What’s wrong?”

“Oh, nothing,” Maggie sniffed. “You just remind me of my own mum, that’s all.”

Annie’s expression got solemn. “Yes, Glenn told us,” she said gravely. “Poor girl. Cancer, wasn’t it?”

Maggie nodded, not trusting herself to speak.

“A terrible disease,” Annie said. “You are very strong, child.” She gave Maggie a moment to compose herself, and when she managed to give Glenn’s mum a watery smile Annie continued, “Come on through, Steven has been dying to meet you!”

Maggie was taken through into the living room, where Glenn’s father was waiting for them (thankfully not on the sofa). He extended a hand and shook it firmly, looking rather bemused when Annie scolded him in Korean.

At Maggie’s questioning glance, Annie explained, “I was telling Steven that you don’t shake a woman’s hand, you give her a hug! He doesn’t understand these things.”

“I understand enough,” Glenn’s father said sternly, though his strict expression held more than a glimmer of fondness. “It is pleasure to meet you, Margaret. That is your name, is it not?”

“Um, yes, most people call me Maggie, though.”

“Yes, Glenn tells me. I prefer the full name; it is very elegant, no?”

“No, I mean, yes, thank you.”

Annie shook her head. “Steven, be more kind!” She patted Maggie’s arm. “Stay here. I will go fetch Glenn for you, then get back to cooking.” She whisked herself away into the dining room and then through to the kitchen, muttering to herself in Korean.

“It’s very nice to meet you, Mr Rhee,” Maggie said politely, though inwardly she was quaking a little bit.

Steven Rhee looked at her impassively for a second, then burst out into a roaring laugh. Glenn came in at that moment (able to move quickly now that he’d had the cast taken off) and looked startled, but quickly smiled at her and kissed her cheek chastely, murmuring in her ear that he liked her dress.

“Dad, what are you laughing about?” he said in exasperation when Mr Rhee reduced himself to chuckles. He turned to Maggie and added, “Dad’s kind of weird. Don’t take offence.”

Maggie grinned. “I wasn’t going to.”

“ _Geunyeoneun hwolssin deo aleumdaun dangsinboda, adeul_!” Mr Rhee finally said, eyes twinkling with mirth.

“Oh, thanks, Dad.” He turned to Maggie. “Dad’s laughing because you’re pretty and I’m not.”

“Well, he’s right there,” Maggie grinned, sliding her arm around his shoulders.

“Aw, thanks.” He pulled her a little closer to him. “Nice to know I have such a loving girlfriend.”

“Margaret, you call me Steven. No Mr Rhee anymore,” Mr Rhee interrupted, shaking her hand again and then going to help Annie out with the food.

“I know it’s just your dad’s bad English but that sounded like a threat,” Maggie giggled. She already loved Glenn’s family, and now she could see why Tara was so obsessed with them. They were so weird.

Glenn just sighed and guided her into the dining room with his hand on the small of her back, and pulled her chair out for her. She could hear Steven and Annie bickering good-naturedly next door, and found Glenn’s hand under the table, waiting for dinner.

“Maggie, I hope you don’t mind but we are having traditional Korean food,” Annie called from the kitchen.

“Not at all!” Maggie called back. “I’ve been wanting to try it for ages.”

Annie appeared in the doorway with a platter, beaming from ear to ear. “Good to hear,” she said warmly. “Glenn said you wouldn’t mind but I was still worried.” She set the platter down in the middle of the table, while Steven followed with a stack of plates.

Maggie inhaled the different spices and aromas coming off the foods in front of her. At one end of the platter were flat discs that looked like pancakes, and at the other were thin strips of what looked like beef. In the middle were four little ramakins of rice, with four pairs of ornate chopsticks accompanying it (also knives and forks, Maggie noted gladly.)

“Glenn, why don’t you tell Maggie what these are?” Annie prompted, pouring them all water from the crystal jug by her place.

“Oh! Yeah, right, um.” Glenn squinted at the food. Maggie wanted to laugh at his mildly panicked expression. “Okay, so these are _pajeon_ ,” he said, waving his hand at the pancakes. “They have, um, I don’t know, whatever Mum put in them. I’ve never made them; I just eat them. And these are _bulgogi_ ,” he gestured to the beef strips, “which are basically just bits of beef that are marinated in soy sauce and then barbecued.”

“It sounds delicious,” Maggie said honestly.

“Then let’s eat!” Annie said enthusiastically. “I have the main course in the oven already.”

Glenn helped her out by grabbing a pair of chopsticks and giving her two of the _pajeon_ and a small pile of the _bulgogi_ , then one of the dishes of rice. He did the same for himself and then laid the chopsticks back down. “We use the chopsticks to serve and the knife and fork to eat,” he clarified, handing her the cutlery.

“Rice is far too fiddly to eat with chopsticks,” Annie added. “And it would look strange if we kept switching our utensils.”

“Are chopsticks only for serving, then?” Maggie asked, picking up her fork and spearing a piece of _bulgogi_. She eyed it for a second before putting it in her mouth and chewing. It was delicious, and she eagerly grabbed another one.

“Mainly. At posh restaurants, you use only chopsticks, and at events like weddings only chopsticks also,” Annie explained. “We may be in America but we like to keep our customs still.”

“You should get used to chopsticks,” Steven chipped in. “For you and Glenn’s wedding.”

“Dad, oh my God.”

“Steven, they are teenagers still!” Annie shook her head at her husband fondly and turned back to Maggie. “Tell me, Maggie, what do you want to do with your career?”

The conversation passed pleasantly as they finished the first course, and then Glenn’s parents got up to serve the main. Maggie bumped her shoulder against his to get his attention, then kissed him quickly. “What was that for?” he murmured.

“Just because.” She sat straight in her chair again as Annie came in with a bowl that looked far too heavy for her small frame.

“This is soup. Stew,” Glenn said when it was set down in front of them. “um, _kimchi_ _gungmul_ , or _byul_ _kimchi_ – or one of those things, I don’t know. It’s delicious, that’s all you need to know.”

“You should be a cultural ambassador,” Maggie grinned. “What about those?”

“Fiiiissshhh cakes?”

“Why did your voice get so high?”

“Uncertainty.”

* * *

By the end of the meal, Maggie was sure that Glenn’s parents knew everything there was to know about her, and she felt pleasantly full from Annie’s delicious cooking. She offered to help clear away and wash up but Steven shooed her and Glenn into the living room, saying that she was a guest and shouldn’t be doing any of that. Glenn didn’t seem to mind.

“Hey, I didn’t ask,” Maggie began, once they were settled on the sofa. “How was getting the cast off?” His two months of having to keep the plaster on had finally ended that weekend, the day before she’d come to have lunch.

Glenn let his head fall back against the sofa. “It was heaven,” he groaned. “I got to itch it after so long! And now I can actually walk properly. Mum was really happy, too, because now I can start doing my chores again.”

“You won’t have to leave all your lessons early now either.”

“Yeah, that’s a disadvantage. It was nice not having to elbow my way through the crowds.” He grinned at her and then impulsively pulled her in for a kiss. “My parents like you.”

“You think?”

“Definitely. Trust me, if they didn’t like you, then you’d know about it.” Glenn shuddered from the memories of whatever his parents had done to his sisters’ boyfriends.

“Well, I like them too,” Maggie said softly. “They’re great.”

“Yeah, they are,” Glenn said proudly. “You know who’s greater?”

“If you say me, I swear to God that I—”

“You are.”

“That’s it.” She went straight for his sides, where he was the most sensitive, pinning him down with her legs. “Stop being so cute!” She pulled his shirt up just enough to tickle at the bare skin.

“No! Maggie, please, no, you’re killing me!” She would have taken his words more seriously if they weren’t interspersed with manic cackles.

In the kitchen, Annie and Steven just smiled to each other.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> terrible chapter :)


	9. Chapter 9

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Okay so guys I was watching an episode of this show Cold Case which I’ve gotten into recently AND Lauren Cohan was acting in it (but she looked different so I went on Wikipedia to see if it was her and ye it was but that’s irrelevant) and basically I haven’t been watching twd ever since the unmentionable happened but I read that since that unmentionable happened Maggie changed her last name from Greene to Rhee and it legit made me cry??? I thought I was actually over what happened but as soon as I was reminded of it I got such a sick feeling in my stomach it was actually unreal omg someone send me love please

“Fucking hell.”

“Mind your language.”

“My apologies. Fucking heck.”

Glenn rolled his eyes and threw the nearest thing to him at Tara, which happened to be Maggie’s pencil case.

“Hey!” she protested, crawling forward to grab it. “Don’t break all my fucking pencils.”

“You’re both heathens,” Glenn said, pointedly highlighting something in his textbook.

The study session wasn’t going quite as planned. In fact, Glenn was more than half convinced that Maggie and Tara had suggested this for the explicit purpose of winding him up constantly. He’d only managed to make half a page of notes in two hours, which was more than the both of them put together still.

“Maggie, you’re going to want to break your own pencils when you hear this,” Tara said seriously. “And your own legs. And Glenn’s. And mine. Please mine.”

“Tara, what is it?” Glenn said tiredly, pinching the bridge of his nose.

“An obstacle course.”

“You’re going to have to be clearer.”

Beside him, Maggie was checking her phone. Her jaw dropped. “Oh God.” She turned to face her boyfriend. “Glenn, we have to do an obstacle course.”

“What?” Glenn grabbed her phone, where it was open to an email from their school.

_Dear all students,_

_In order to raise money for charity, this coming Wednesday all students will be taking part in an obstacle course!_

_Please arrive promptly at school in the morning and enrol as normal. Buses will then drive you to a local gym, where they have kindly set up an indoor and outdoor obstacle course for us to participate in._

_Make sure to wear appropriate clothes!_

“What the fuck,” Glenn said flatly.

“Who’s the heathen now?” Tara said sulkily.

* * *

Predictably, the school was in uproar as soon as Glenn walked in on Monday morning. Just like him, everyone else (apart from a few freakishly athletic kids) was pissed off about compulsory strenuous exercise. At least in PE you could get away with doing the bare minimum. This time, they might have to actually _work_.

Mr Horvath couldn’t even take the register that morning due to the hubbub in the classroom (though after having him as a teacher for several years, Glenn suspected that was more to his hearing going steadily downhill), Tara and Andrea the loudest of the lot.

In the end, their teacher banged on the desk with a massive history tome and then sighed, looking like he wished he’d never gone into education. “Listen,” he said tiredly. “I understand you don’t want to do this. I wouldn’t either. But you have to. Wait!” he called, as the sound levels rose again with everyone complaining. “I’m sure you all read the email, which said that there is an indoor and outdoor course. What the email didn’t say is that you only have to do _one_. And if you were to choose the outdoor one, you would all be in a very large field without any supervision, so technically you wouldn’t even have to do anything active. Not that I’m suggesting anything, but…”

“You rock, Mr H!” Tara yelled delightedly, pumping her fist in the end excitedly and nearly giving Rick a black eye.

Mr Horvath looked rather bemused, but still smiled at her before hobbling back to the desk and taking the register, successfully this time.

Tara had already flipped to the back of her notebook to scribble down some plans, which mainly seemed to involve how she was going to smuggle food and alcohol in with her. “If we’re going to be sitting in a field for several hours, we’re going to be doing it drunk and eating chips,” Shane was haughtily informed when he dared to ask what the hell she was doing.

Maggie turned to Glenn, delight in her eyes, when the chatter in the rest of the room began to pick up again. “Maybe we could find ourselves somewhere private in that field,” she murmured. “I’m sure the others wouldn’t notice.”

* * *

Their group of friends had been forced to split up to go on the obstacle course, their PE teacher Mr Ford knowing them well enough to stagger them quarter of an hour apart. Tara, Lori, and Andrea had all gone first, jogging away as slowly as possible, followed later by Rick and Shane, who actually seemed to be taking this seriously and were racing each other, then Michonne and Daryl, who had settled into a happy medium between those two paces as they ran off. Glenn and Maggie were left until almost last, sitting under a tree in the shade while they watched other students come panting back from the end of the course (some of whom Glenn was sure had set off after Daryl and Michonne had).

Maggie chattered away during their near hour wait, while Glenn just listened with his eyes half-closed, basking in the warmth of the day and Maggie’s talk. Her voice with its Southern drawl and happy tone was one of his favourite things to listen to, and he honestly could do it all day long.

Eventually Mr Ford called them both up, and when he whistled for them to go Glenn could have sworn he winked at them. He put it out of his mind as they jogged at a reasonable pace until they were out of sight of anybody else, then both slowed down to a walk.

“When do the obstacles start?” Maggie asked, panting slightly.

Glenn pulled out a folded piece of paper from his jacket pocket. “They would have started by now, if we took the right path.” He unfolded the paper and showed her a map he’d printed of the woods they were in. “There are two footpaths through here: they set up the obstacle course on the bigger and longer one. It’s about three miles in total. This one’s a much more direct way out, only about half a mile, and obviously they didn’t set up any obstacles on this one.”

“Glenn, you’re a genius,” Maggie declared, and kissed him roughly and sloppily. When she pulled away he was grinning at her like an idiot, his eyes slightly glazed over like they always were when they did anything like that. “Your map have any convenient making out locations?”

“I thought we could figure that out when we got here,” he replied, taking her hand and pulling her along the dirt trail. Sure enough, in a few hundred metres, Maggie spotted a roughly carved wooden bench overlooking a small stretch of water, bigger than a pond but smaller than a lake. She pushed Glenn down onto it and straddled him, kissing him with a little more finesse this time.

“This definitely beats an octopus course,” Glenn mumbled against her mouth, not realising what he said and looking confused when Maggie broke away laughing. She shook her head, deciding to explain later, and went back to kissing him.

Two hours and a lot of declothing later, Maggie came for the third time and collapsed onto Glenn in a mass of weak limbs and sweaty skin. “Everyone should be back by now,” she murmured feebly. “They’ll wonder why we’re so late.”

Glenn hummed against her shoulder, lips pressed to the flushed skin there. He thought for a few seconds, then suggested, “You fell over and twisted your ankle?”

* * *

Glenn had an extra half foot of height on her, and usually it annoyed her, but just then it was useful. He was able to carry her on his back to meet the rest of their class as they emerged from the forest, Mr Ford hurrying over as soon as he saw them.

“Guess I don’t need to ask where the hell the two of you were,” he said gruffly, helping Glenn lower her to the floor smoothly.

“I slipped on one of the obstacles,” Maggie said, wincing as she put weight on her leg. “It was covered in mud.”

Mr Ford nodded, rolling her jeans leg up and examining her ankle. “Problem with going last in these things. Well, you’re lucky – can’t see any bruising, so it looks like it’s just a twist. Painful when it happens, but not anything serious.” The rest of the class had wandered over to see what the excitement was about, and now they scattered when their red-headed teacher blew his whistle and barked at them to get on the coach to go back to school.

Even though none of their friends believed the story that they made up about slipping off a log pile (it later transpired that the main reason for this was that there was in fact no log pile on the entire three mile course), Maggie milked the twisted ankle story for a few days, and got more than a few piggyback rides from Glenn because of it.

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I haven’t proofread or edited this I’ve just whacked it up
> 
> So this will be probably be terrible
> 
> But y’know that’s nothing new for me


	10. Chapter 10

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> what is up my cranky crew
> 
> It’s been 84 years since I last updated
> 
> Thanks for waiting
> 
> On with the chapter
> 
> I have nothing entertaining for you here
> 
> (I say that like sometimes I do)

  **Tara Chambler created the group chat.**

**Tara Chambler named the chat ‘Squad Xmas party 2k16’.**

**Tara Chambler added Glenn Rhee, Maggie Greene, Michonne Gurai, Andrea Harrison, Lori Callies, Rick Grimes, Daryl Dixon and Shane Walsh to Squad Xmas party 2k16.**

**Tara Chambler set Glenn Rhee’s nickname to Chinese.**

**Tara Chambler set Maggie Greene’s nickname to Farm girl.**

**Tara Chambler set Michonne Gurai’s nickname to Swordfucker.**

**Tara Chambler set Andrea Harrison’s nickname to Rabid feminist.**

**Tara Chambler set Lori Callies’s nickname to Car crash.**

**Tara Chambler set Rick Grimes’s nickname to Wannabe police officer.**

**Tara Chambler set Daryl Dixon’s nickname to Redneck hick.**

**Tara Chambler set Shane Walsh’s nickname to Slut.**

**Chinese set Tara Chambler’s nickname to Rugmuncher.**

_Swordfucker: how would that even work_

_Rabid feminist: oh no_

_Redneck hick: im the only one allowed to call glenn chinese_

_Swordfucker: you couldn’t fuck a sword, it would cut you open from the inside_

_Rugmuncher: the hilt, mich, the hilt_

_Car crash: IT WAS ONE TIME_

_Car crash: I CRASHED ONCE_

_Slut: u crashed on an empty road with literally NO distractions_

_Farm girl: wtf is happening_

_Rabid feminist: the xmas party is happening, Maggie_

_Wannabe police officer: we have a party every year_

_Wannabe police officer: the party is great but the group chat to organise it…is not_

_Redneck hick: what day are we having it?_

_Redneck hick: merle’s out of prison on 23 rd_

_Redneck hick: need to be at home_

_Rugmuncher: can everyone do 21 st?_

_Farm girl: yep_

_Swordfucker: not the morning but rest of the day yeah_

_Car crash: sure_

_Rugmuncher: great 21 st it is_

_Chinese: tara u didn’t even get answers from half of the group_

_Rugmuncher: I will kick you in the spine glenn_

_Slut: we cant have it at mine again my mums still finding pieces of that vase we broke_

_Car crash: no can do here either :(_

_Rabid feminist: hey daryl what about yours_

_Redneck hick: do you want to be murdered by a methhead_

_Rabid feminist: yes_

_Farm girl: hey, we could have it at mine?_

_Chinese: Maggie are you sure it will be chaos_

_Farm girl: we have a barn that hasn’t had anything in it for years_

_Farm girl: me and beth use it as a hang out sometimes_

_Farm girl: I could easily get some more lights in there, and speakers_

_Farm girl: not sure about drinks though_

_Rugmuncher: Maggie u are truly shaped like a friend_

_Swordfucker: what does that even mean_

_Rugmuncher: it means i wanna party in ur barn and get wasted_

_Slut: don’t worry about the drinks maggie, me and rick can sort that_

_Farm girl: thank youu_

_Farm girl: if anyone wants to stay over there’s plenty of room and it’s actually really comfy_

_Wannabe police officer: I knew there was a reason I brought you into this group_

_Chinese: um_

_Farm girl: thanks?_

_Rabid feminist: please don’t treat Maggie like a piece of meat_

_Slut: living up to your namesake_

_Rabid feminist: just as much as you live up to yours_

_Swordfucker: didnt you two sleep together once_

_Rabid feminist: MICHONNE PLEASE_

_Farm girl: glenn hold me_

* * *

“Oh, it’s broken.” Tara set the speaker down on the dirty barn floor. “Yep, it’s broken. My back is broken.”

“Shut up!” Glenn yelled over his shoulder, helping Maggie string more fairy lights along the barn walls. He wiped his forehead with his spare hand. “Is that okay?”

“Great, thanks.” Maggie hopped off the stepladder. “I think that’s all of them now.”

Tara wandered over, still rubbing her back, and surveyed the barn with them. “It looks pretty damn cool,” she mused, and the other two agreed.

The large barn had strings of lights all around the walls, and lanterns hanging from the bottom of the hayloft, giving the place a pleasant, soft glow. A wooden table had been dragged in by Beth and her boyfriend, which was piled with plates and bowls of various sugary items, and another smaller table next to it was ready and waiting for the alcohol Rick and Shane had promised to bring.

The only thing left to do was hook up the speakers to Maggie’s laptop so they could listen to the very long and carefully compiled playlist she had put together. Glenn did both of his speakers before Tara and Maggie finished even one, but in the name of girl power they refused his help and ordered him to go to the kitchen and make them sandwiches. Glenn, knowing better than to argue, raised his hands in surrender and headed to the main house.

Hershel was hobbling slowly in the same direction, and Glenn ran to catch up with him and offer himself as a makeshift crutch. “Oh, thank you,” the old man huffed, leaning on him. “Left my stick in the house again.”

“Maggie worries when you forget it,” Glenn said truthfully. His girlfriend fretted about it for hours whenever she saw her father limping around.

“I know she does, but my memory isn’t as good as it used to be.” Hershel sighed. “Not that it was ever brilliant.”

Glenn, knowing the basics of Hershel’s history with alcoholism, decided to stay silent. He changed the subject instead. “Maggie’s ordered me to make her lunch.”

That drew a chuckle out of the man. “That sounds like Maggie. Did I ever tell you that she got kicked out of preschool?” Glenn shook his head, and Hershel continued, “She punched a boy in the noise because he told her that girls couldn’t hit, and refused to apologise. Her mother had a fit about it, but I just laughed and laughed. She didn’t get expelled from the next one, but we got several reports back telling us that she was ‘intimidating’ the other children.”

“She intimidates me,” Glenn said. Which wasn’t strictly a lie; she did intimidate him, but more with her beauty and how flawless she was than anything else.

“Son, she intimidates us all.”

* * *

_Rugmuncher: yo maggie’s dad just hooked up this bigass projector thing in the barn so we can watch a film_

_Rugmuncher: also hurry up everyone glenn and Maggie are just making out in a corner and i’m getting lonely_

_Car crash: Zootopia!!!!_

_Rabid feminist: yaaas_

_Slut: no_

_Swordfucker: aw shane come on_

_Slut: i dont want 2 see the furry film_

_Wannabe police officer: wait shane don’t you literally have a fursona_

_Chinese: LMAO WHAT_

_Redneck hick: isnt it a wolf?_

_Slut: thats why i dont want to see it…_

_Slut: what if it…_

_Slut: …awakens something inside of me_

_Chinese: SHANE WHAT_

_Farm girl: oh now we’re definitely watching zootopia_

* * *

“How are you feeling, Shane?” Andrea said with a snicker, prompting everyone else to fall into helpless bouts of giggling.

Shane, scowling but still watching the film intently, turned to glare at them and then downed his fourth bottle of beer. “If I become a furry again, it’s on y’all heads.”

* * *

It was well past midnight, and it had begun to snow at some point, but the heaters inside the barn were doing their job well. Maggie might have been biased, due to her close proximity to Glenn, but nobody else seemed to be complaining. Tara and Daryl were having a drinking competition, the rules of which nobody seemed to understand (least of all the participants), and Michonne was having a heated discussion with Rick on the merits of toothpaste versus mints.

“I kind of wish I hadn’t invited them to stay over,” Maggie murmured against Glenn’s lips, before he captured them again in an eager kiss. He had her pressed up against a corner of the barn, hidden behind the now blank projector screen. His hands were under her shirt and stroking her skin softly as Wizzard played in the background, and she could hear snatches of the dental hygiene debate every so often, as well as Tara’s giggles as she got steadily plastered.

“We could sneak off somewhere,” Glenn suggested, hands sliding down and resting at the waistband of her jeans. His mouth moved down to her collarbone, nibbling gently at the protrusion there.

“It’s cold outside though,” Maggie protested, looping her hands around his shoulders and sighing contentedly.

“Yeah. I have always wanted to do it in a hayloft,” Glenn admitted, removing his mouth for just a second to peel off her shirt. “I think this has been the best Christmas party we’ve ever had.”

“I think you’re biased, Rhee,” Maggie breathed, tossing her bra somewhere to the side. She’d worry about finding it somewhere; she couldn’t think to breathe while Glenn was teasing her jeans down along with her panties, kissing her stomach tenderly.

“Just a bit,” he murmured back absent-mindedly, mouth moving lower.

* * *

Michonne raised her eyebrows at them when they stumbled out from behind the screen together, hair ruffled and clothes probably inside out or back to front. Rick was passed out next to her, arm tangled with Lori’s in a way that looked kind of like they had wanted to hold hands but had been too scared to and had fallen asleep before they had plucked up the courage to do it. Michonne herself was a few strides away from them, seemingly doing yoga, and Tara was attempting to teach Daryl to slow-dance, much to his well-vocalised disgust.

“Where are Shane and Andrea?” Glenn asked, slurring his words just a little bit. Maggie giggled and clung round his neck, kissing him on the cheek.

“Oh,” Michonne said, looking around. “Shit. Where did they go?” She shrugged, evidently giving absolutely no fucks about the matter, and straightened up, stretching out her arms. “It’s like 2 in the morning, should we get to sleep?”

“Probably,” Glenn agreed. “We should help the others with their sleeping bags and stuff.”

Maggie glanced to where Daryl was trying to spin Tara under his arm – trying being an important word to consider there – and shook her head. “Nope. Not getting involved in that mess.” She stumbled over to the corner where everyone had dumped their stuff. “Me and Glenn are sleeping in the hayloft, everyone else will be sleeping down here.” She stomped her foot on the floor to make her point, and then marched towards the ladder with two sleeping bags.

Michonne turned to Glenn with a raised eyebrow, who just shrugged. “It’s what the lady wants,” he said nonchalantly, and headed over to disentangle Lori and Rick from each other. “Come on, bed time.”

“We were asleep,” Lori pointed out, disgruntled at being separated from Rick. She cheered up when he grinned at her and accepted the sleeping bags from Glenn, rolling them out right next to each other. It looked like Rick was finally taking the hint that Lori was interested in him.

Maggie climbed down from the hayloft with an armful of blankets. “In case it gets colder tonight,” she said, handing them out to everyone. “Oh, and if anyone needs the bathroom, the main house is still open. Just go in at the red door and turn left, it’s hard to miss.”

“Thanks, Maggie,” Tara mumbled, slipping into her sleeping bag and closing her eyes immediately. Daryl threw a blanket over her before heading to a space a little way from the rest of them, shaking out the roll and flopping on top of it. He accepted a blanket from Maggie but didn’t put it over himself, using it as an extra pillow instead.

Shane and Andrea stumbled in at that moment, both of them covered in snow from the knees down. “Oh, are we going to sleep already?” Andrea said, aiming for casual and failing miserably.

Michonne pointed to their beds without opening her eyes. “Did you two have fun?” she said, and maybe Maggie was just drunk but her voice had an edge of bitterness to it.

Shane rubbed the back of his head as he headed to his sleeping bag. He met Glenn’s eyes and smiled sheepishly. Glenn wasn’t surprised; the two had been at loggerheads a lot recently, and the sexual tension between them had been reaching unprecedented levels.

Glenn didn’t care. He had a girlfriend and a hayloft to spend some time with.

* * *

_Rugmuncher: my head_

_Farm girl: tara we’re all in a barn together why don’t you use your mouth_

_Rugmuncher: the words hurt my head_

_Redneck hick: can we make a rule of no making out in the barn please_

_Chinese: oops sorry daryl_

_Redneck hick: oh it wasn’t just you_

_Swordfucker: I second daryls motion_

_Wannabe police officer: this was the best party yet_

_Wannabe police officer: Maggie this barn is the shit_

_Rabid feminist: tara I have drugs_

_Rugmuncher: can you bring them to me_

_Rugmuncher: I cant move_

_Chinese: tara omg you look dead_

_Farm girl: give me a sec_

_Farm girl: I’ll go get us breakfast_

_Farm girl: lemme get dressed_

_Chinese: can someone toss my jeans up please they fell down last night_

_Swordfucker: yeah they fell on MY HEAD_

_Rugmuncher: shush no caps_

_Rugmuncher: its too loud_

_Slut: I need more sleep glenn and Maggie slobbering on each other woke up me_

_Redneck hick: like you can talk_

_Farm girl: why are we using our phones and not our mouths_

_Rugmuncher: this is all glenns fault lets beat him up_

_Car crash: jesus Christ so many messages_

_Car crash: ooh yes lets beat up glenn_

_Slut: I second_

_Rugmuncher: I third_

_Chinese: pretty sure you cant third your own motion, tara_

_Redneck hick: I third_

_Chinese: shit_

_Farm girl: wait until I get back I want to be a part of this_

_Chinese: its just so good to have friends_

_Chinese: TARA NO I HEAR YOU CLIMBING UP THE LADDER_

_Rugmuncher: daddy’s coming_

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> What…is this
> 
> Also major thanks to greeneballoons (on wattpad) for nominating me for the glaggie story section of GlennTrash’s The Walking Dead fanfic awards!!!! That literally made my cry you have no idea
> 
> Do you guys like the group chat parts? I loved writing it but I have no idea if it’s funny to read lmao + tara is actually my spirit animal
> 
> Love you all so much, especially you guys who keep talking to me on tumblr! You have no idea how happy it makes me when I get them sweet anon messages


	11. Chapter 11

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I roll up in a ’96 Toyota Prius with this shitty ass chapter in my backseat. I lower my shades and we make eye contact as you sit on your porch sipping iced tea. You nod at me. I throw this ridiculously long chapter out of the rolled down window and drive off again. You slowly stand up and retrieve it from the lawn, then go back to drinking that tea. Until the next transaction, amigo

“You’re way too excited about this,” Glenn deadpanned, staring at the board glumly where the details of their trip were written out.

“A trip to look at dead bodies and then actually touching dead bodies? That’s so cool!” Maggie clapped her hands together. “I’ve always wanted to touch a dead human.”

“Maggie, trust me, you don’t. And it’s kind of worrying how excited you are about a trip to a morgue.” Glenn sighed. “I mean, yeah, dead bodies are kind of awesome, but these are dead bodies that are filled with preservatives and stuff. And it’s an entire room full of them.”

“A body that’s been preserved is better than a rotting body,” Maggie argued.

“Oh, no it’s not.” Glenn waved Daryl over from his desk on the other side of the room. “Did we ever tell you about Daryl’s brother?”

“The druggie who’s in prison?” Daryl wandered up just in the time to hear this remark and raised his eyebrows at the two.

“Yeah, that one. Daryl, tell Maggie about the morgue trip.”

Daryl grinned. “Merle’s class went on the morgue trip about…ten years ago? Half the class couldn’t stay in for more than an hour, and the other half threw up when they touched the body. Merle was the only one who didn’t, but he came close. Had to walk out.”

Maggie shrugged. “So? They’re all pussies.”

Glenn laughed. “You think Merle’s a pussy?”

Maggie replied, with a wary look at Daryl, “He was pussy enough to walk out of a morgue, so, yeah.”

Daryl chuckled. The cigarettes he smoked after school gave his laugh an odd rasping sound. “Merle got his hand caught in a machine at work. Paramedics didn’t get there after ten minutes, so he grabbed a hand saw and took it off himself.” He patted Maggie on the shoulder. “I’ll give you an hour tops, cowgirl.”

“You’re just scared I’ll look tougher than you!” she called after him as he walked back to his desk. He shot her a wolfish grin over his shoulder.

When she looked back at Glenn, he was smirking at her. “If you last in there for more than two hours…” he trailed off, shaking his head, but looking at her with a suggestive glint in his eyes.

“What, Glenn? Finish what you were going to say.” She leaned forwards, crossing her arms on the desk, and resting her chest on the top of them. Glenn mimicked her movements, not even bothering to hide his appreciative glances at her cleavage, and proceeded to whisper something so filthy into her ear that she felt about a thousand degrees warmer by the time he sat back in his chair, looking pleased with himself.

Ms Peletier, walking by at that moment, stopped and placed her hand on Maggie’s shoulder in concern. “Are you alright? You look very red, Maggie.”

Maggie attempted a smile, fanning herself. “I’m alright, thank you, but would I be able to get some water? I’m just a little warm in here.”

“Of course, dear. Take Glenn with you, though, just in case.”

“Certainly,” Glenn said, standing up and grabbing Maggie’s hand. He looked exactly like the cat who had got the cream, and she didn’t miss the thumbs up Shane flashed him as they walked out of the room.

She hit him lightly on the chest when they were out of the classroom with the doors shut behind them. “Ow!” he said, feigning pain. “What was that for?”

“Shane being a sexist asshole.”

“You know that me and Shane aren’t connected, right? Hitting me doesn’t mean that he’s going to get hit as well. Go slap him, he was the one who did it.”

She pulled him into the little niche between two rows of lockers. “Stop talking about Shane,” she murmured, and pressed her lips to his. He made a little appreciative noise and rolled his body against hers, pushing her against the wall and slotting one of his legs in between hers. She gasped at the pressure as she ground down on him, his hands running through her hair and steering her head so that their lips met at the right angle.

Knowing that anybody could walk by at any moment, Glenn tried to preserve Maggie’s modesty as much as possible by just sliding his hands down over the top of her shirt, but her hands grabbed his wrists and guided them under her top. The thought that a teacher could walk by and see them gave Maggie a little extra thrill, and she kissed Glenn even more enthusiastically when he managed to wriggle his hands under her bra.

“Oh, for fuck’s sake,” came a familiar voice from behind them. It spoke volumes about how used to Tara being an annoying little shit Glenn was when he kept kissing her, and moving his hands over her breasts, completely unbothered by her presence. “Why is it always me who catches you two making out in places? You know if a teacher sees you could actually be excluded for this.”

That made Glenn break apart from her reluctantly, kissing her one final time and carefully putting her bra back in place before he slipped his hands out from her top. He turned on the spot, letting her adjust herself, to glare at Tara.

Maggie stepped out from behind Glenn when she was satisfied she looked as tidy as she could just then, and smiled at their friend. Tara’s face relaxed when she saw Maggie, though she sent Glenn one last scathing look which Maggie was a hundred and ten percent sure was entirely sarcastic.

“Toilets, Maggie,” she ordered, marching down the corridor with her arm extended behind her. Maggie jogged to catch up with her and grabbed the outstretched arm, glancing back at Glenn with an apologetic grin on her face, and tugged Tara’s short ponytail playfully.

“What’s up?” They headed into the bathroom together, and Maggie was grateful to see that it was empty. Usually they were filled with giggling twelve year olds who were trying to do eyeliner and contour their cleavages.

“What’s up is this trip,” Tara replied distractedly, going down the stalls and kicking them all open like they were in some kind of crime drama. She turned around with a sigh. “One day I will find Michonne and Andrea in here.”

“Keep dreaming,” Maggie replied, leaning back on the sink. It was blissfully cool in the toilets, and it was what she needed from her make out session that had left her flushed and slightly aroused. “What’s the issue with the trip? It’s to a morgue, that’s awesome as shit.”

Tara grinned. “Hell fucking yeah it is, farm girl.” She skipped over to where Maggie was and hopped up on the sink next to her. “That’s not the part I wanted to talk about. The bit that I wanted to talk about is the motel.”

“The motel?”

“The motel.” Tara slammed her fist down next to her for emphasis, accidentally turning on the tap and splashing her entire backside with freezing water. “Aw, shit. Gimme a second.” She got down again and went over to the crappy hand dryers, balancing herself on the wall so that her butt was underneath the blower part of it. She slammed the button angrily before continuing like she wasn’t precariously balancing underneath a weak blast of lukewarm air in the full view of anyone who chose to walk into the bathroom. “Anyway, this morgue trip is an overnight thing, so we’re staying in a motel that’s nearby. Aside from how likely it is that we’re going to be murdered or molested etc., I’m concerned about sleeping arrangements. It’s going to be two to a room, and I want us to share.”

“Okay. That’s a problem because…?”

“Because, Maggie – fuck’s sake.” Tara slammed the button on the hand dryer again to turn it back on. “We have to go to the trip coordinator – Mr Porter, in this case – and say that we want to go together. Individually, so nobody is being bullied into anything they don’t want.”

“Okay, I’ll go do that. Wait, what about Lori? Who’s she with?”

“Andrea.”

“So who’s Michonne with?”

“Sasha. She’s in Geography with us.”

“Oh yeah, I know Sasha. So why aren’t Michonne and Andrea staying together? They’re practically joined at the hip.”

Tara hopped down and examined her butt in the mirror. “Still soggy.” She pulled her top off and began rubbing at the wet patches vigorously. “They said they aren’t boarding because they’d keep each other awake all night with stupid jokes, but I reckon it’s because the homoerotic tension between them would reach critical levels.”

Maggie watched Tara’s now bra-only clad body jiggle with a stupid, vacant expression on her face until she realised what she was doing and blushed even more, looking at the ceiling quickly. Hey, a girl could like boys and girls. It wasn’t even like she was cheating on Glenn anyway; she hadn’t eaten any dessert, just checked it out on the menu. That made Maggie feel a little better until she realised she was referring to her friend as dessert.

“So, you dragged me into the bathroom and got your ass wet to ask me to room with you on our school trip?”

Tara shrugged. “Pretty much. Also because you really need to splash some water on your face and chill out, you look like a tomato.” She uncrumpled her top and stuck that under the dryer instead of her actual body this time.

Maggie whipped round to look at herself in the mirror and sure enough, she was as red as the eyes of an albino rabbit. “Shit.” She turned the tap on slowly, making sure not to splash herself like Tara had, and washed her face. When she looked up again, the cold water had done something to lessen the flush, but she still looked a little pink. Tara was pulling her top back on, now only around thirteen percent wet overall, and then pulled a stick of concealer out of her back jeans pocket and handed it over.

Maggie accepted it with a word of thanks and swiped some under her eyes and on her chin, blending it in with her first two fingers. “Do you know what motel we’re staying in?”

“Nope, but I hope it’s like the one in Teen Wolf.”

Maggie quirked an eyebrow as she gave Tara the concealer back. “Is the one in Teen Wolf nice?”

“It’s a murdery one. Glenn knows what I mean.” Tara yanked the door open to reveal Glenn, patiently waiting on the other side of the corridor. “Hey, you remember that motel from Teen Wolf?”

“The murdery one?”

“Yeah!” Tara turned back to Maggie, looking smug. “See, told you.”

They all began to walk back together, Maggie feeling slightly bemused. “Do either of you want to explain what the murdery motel in Teen Wolf is?”

“Well, it’s pretty self-explanatory,” Tara said dismissively. “They go to a motel and loads of people get murdered there.”

“The main characters start trying to murder each other or commit suicide or something,” was Glenn’s more helpful explanation. “The motel has a vibe about it, some sort of curse. I don’t know – I watched it ages ago, I can’t remember exactly.”

“Scott pours petrol over himself and Stiles has to save the day,” Tara supplied, seeming to forget that Maggie had no idea who either of those people were. “Well, here’s my stop,” she added as they reached her classroom. “See ya later.” She saluted them goodbye.

“You should watch Teen Wolf,” Glenn said thoughtfully. “It’s hilarious. Good, but hilarious.”

“No time.” Maggie yawned, as if to prove her next words. “I barely get enough sleep as it is, between farm work, school and now you.” She gave him a playful shove, and he squawked as he struggled to stay upright.

“Well, Miss Greene, if that’s how you want to play it—” He grabbed at her and missed by centimeters, then started to run after her as she sprinted down the corridor, giggling madly. They only stopped when Maggie skidded to a halt just shy of running straight into Mr Porter, gasping out apologies as Glenn conspicuously tried to make himself inconspicuous behind some lockers.

“No worries, Maggie,” the science teacher said. “No harm done.”

“Thank you,” Maggie panted. “Oh, Mr Porter, for the morgue trip – do we need to sort out motel rooms with you?”

“That you do; do you have any particular requests?”

“I thought maybe me and Tara could go together?”

Mr Porter smiled at her, his face looking a lot less stern. “I will take that request into consideration.” He walked off, nodding at Glenn as he went. “Mr Rhee.”

Glenn slunk out from behind the lockers, looking slightly mortified. “This is all your fault,” he told her, poking her in the sides and making her double over.

“Screw you,” she said lightly, writhing out of his grip. “Don’t forget I know where you’re ticklish too.”

“Oh, like a day goes by when you let me forget it.”

* * *

**Tara Chambler created the group chat.**

**Tara Chambler named the chat ‘Squad outing 2k17’.**

**Tara Chambler added Glenn Rhee.**

**Tara Chambler added Maggie Greene.**

**Tara Chambler added Andrea Harrison.**

_Glenn Rhee: tara no_

**Tara Chambler added Michonne Gurai.**

**Tara Chambler added Daryl Dixon.**

**Tara Chambler added Lori Callies.**

**Tara Chambler added Rick Grimes.**

**Tara Chambler added Shane Walsh.**

_Shane: hey why am I always the last to be added_

_Rick: because nobody likes you_

_Shane: :-(_

_Tara: [photo]_

_Maggie: TARA WHEN DID YOU TAKE THAT WHAT AM I EVEN DOING THERE_

_Glenn: saved and set as wallpaper_

_Daryl: we could have just sat together then we wouldn’t need this stupid chat_

_Lori: this is going to be the longest bus journey ever_

_Lori: no one will be safe from Tara now_

_Tara: mwahahaha_

_Tara: [photo]_

_Shane: ffs_

_Rick: shane are you actually having a stroke in that picture_

_Michonne: [photo]_

_Michonne: oh how the turntables_

_Tara: NO_

_Tara: WHAT IS THAT_

_Tara: I DO NOT LOOK HUMAN_

_Glenn: you look like Chewbacca_

_Shane: iw ould fuck chewbacca_

_Andrea: shane that’s gross you are disgusting_

_Lori: shane??? Wtf?????_

_Michonne: dude you nasty_

_Shane: fucks sake rick sent that_

_Rick: ha ha ha_

_Glenn: shane you haven’t denied the statement_

_Shane: …I mean_

_Lori: SHANE_

_Rick: oh my god_

_Tara: shane are you saying you would actually fuck Chewbacca…………….._

_Tara: ?????????????????????????_

_Shane: no way hes a dude_

_Glenn: and?_

_Shane: im straight_

_Daryl: nice no homo there_

_Michonne: yeah like youre not the epitome of insecure masculinity daryl_

_Tara: [photo]_

_Tara: [photo]_

_Tara: [photo]_

_Tara: [photo]_

_Tara: [photo]_

_Tara: [photo]_

_Glenn: tara please_

_Tara: [photo]_

_Tara: everyone look at the last one please_

_Tara: it’s the only important thing I’ve ever drawn_

_Maggie: is that shane and chewbacca_

_Tara: yes_

_Shane: fuck all yall_

_Shane: why am I kinkshamed when maggie and glenn are literally making out every five seconds_

_Tara: ooooooo idea!_

_Tara: Kinkshame: The Game_

_Tara: everyone say their kink and we decide whether its normal or not_

_Tara: I’ll go first if you like_

_Rick: go for it_

_Tara: fishnets_

_Shane: is that even a kink_

_Michonne: I think that’s a fetish_

_Andrea: also same_

_Lori: tara what context do you like fishnets in?_

_Lori: because that’s what decides if it’s a kink or a fetish_

_Tara: I like a girl to wear nothing but fishnets while she holds me down and fucks me_

_Lori: yep that’s a kink_

_Glenn: oh god tara oversharing_

_Tara: Maggie you go next_

_Tara: what’s your kink?_

_Maggie: no_

_Glenn: I can answer for her_

_Maggie: NO_

_Rick: it cant be worse than taras_

_Maggie: glenn you say it I cant_

_Tara: oh it’s a good un_

_Glenn: she likes being told that she’s doing good_

_Glenn: you should be sitting with us Maggies actually going to die of embarrassment this is hilarious_

_Glenn: look how red she is_

_Glenn: [photo]_

_Maggie: GLENN PLEASE_

_Andrea: relationship goals_

_Andrea: glenn you go next_

_Glenn: I have none_

_Glenn: my only kink is life is Maggie being happy_

_Tara: gay_

_Glenn: andrea you go_

_Andrea: car sex_

_Shane: knew it_

_Andrea: shane youre a furry shut the fuck up_

_Shane: at least im not a bondage freak like rick_

_Rick: I AM NOT A FREAK_

_Rick: PLENTY OF PEOPLE LIKE HANDCUFFS IN THE BEDROOM_

_Lori: guys we all need to calm down and stop outing each others kinks_

_Michonne: like your outdoors sex kink_

_Michonne: and daddy kink_

_Lori: thanks_

_Andrea: Michonne once masturbated to a video of a guy showing how to use a katana_

_Andrea: shane also likes bdsm stuff just btw_

_Andrea: like being in control and bondage and stuff_

_Shane: why_

_Glenn: tara look what you’ve done_

_Tara: I aint even mad_

_Tara: I feel like we’re really bonding as a group_

_Tara: wait daryl you haven’t gone_

_Daryl: naw_

_Tara: please_

_Daryl: idk_

_Glenn: you don’t know?_

_Rick: daryl are you a virgin_

_Shane: daryl have you ever kissed anyone_

_Andrea: daryl have you ever talked to any females outside of this group_

_Daryl: yes no and no_

_Tara: awwwww daryl_

_Daryl: shut the fuck up before I kill you all_

_Glenn: daryl that’s so cute_

_Daryl: ???_

_Michonne: shut up all of you at least daryl has the balls to admit things unlike some guys we know_

_Lori: roasted_

_Maggie: why is it such a big deal that daryls a virgin_

_Maggie: glenns a virgin, im a virgin, ricks a virgin I think_

_Rick: roger dodger_

_Maggie: lori aren’t you?_

_Lori: kind of_

_Tara: that is a story I badly want to hear_

_Lori: I messed around with a guy, he paddled_

_Lori: didn’t make it to the deep end tho_

_Glenn: that’s such amazing imagery ms peletier would cry_

_Lori: wont be talking about my vagina to any teachers soon but thanks_

_Maggie: POINT IS_

_Maggie: its no big deal_

_Tara: good point Maggie_

_Tara: [photo]_

_Tara: look at shane trying to use the seatbelt_

_Shane: its stuck_

_Tara: [photo]_

_Tara: ricks getting in on the action_

_Lori: rick,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,, are you actually giving him a blowjob_

_Rick: ITS STUCK_

_Glenn: I hate everyone_

_Tara: well now that everyones kinks have been thoroughly shamed_

_Tara: I propose a new game_

_Tara: never have I ever_

_Tara: I’ll begin_

_Tara: say ‘never’ or ‘guilty’_

_Tara: never have I ever…had sexual feelings for shane walsh_

_Maggie: never_

_Michonne: never_

_Andrea: …I have whatever_

_Rick: never_

_Lori: ugh guilty_

_Glenn: never_

_Daryl: never_

_Shane: offended_

_Tara: shane you need to answer_

_Shane: …I abstain_

_Glenn: DUDE_

_Rick: shane really_

_Lori: oh man_

_Tara: you have so many issues walsh_

_Shane: NEXT ONE_

_Tara: glenn you choose_

_Glenn: so much choice_

_Glenn: ok_

_Glenn: never have I ever been caught watching porn_

_Lori: never_

_Michonne: never_

_Rick: never_

_Shane: do dogs count_

_Glenn: yes_

_Shane: guilty_

_Maggie: guilty_

_Andrea: guilty_

_Daryl: never_

_Glenn: Maggie what_

_Maggie: technically_

_Maggie: it was beth but she didn’t realise I don’t think_

_Maggie: I was watching it on my phone in bed and like lowkey jacking it under the blankets_

_Maggie: and she walked in_

_Maggie: glenn you’ve gone so red omg_

_Maggie: [photo]_

_Tara: hes thinking about you masturbating Maggie that’s why_

_Glenn: I do not appreciate this slander_

_Rick: andrea whats your story_

_Andrea: my adopted grandad found me when I was like 12_

_Andrea: it was curiosity rather than anything else ya get_

_Rick: fair_

_Shane: sah dude_

_Tara: shane stop before I eject you from this coach_

_Tara: Maggie you think of one_

_Maggie: what why me_

_Maggie: ugh fine_

_Maggie: never have I ever not made out with glenn_

_Tara: dude that’s cheating_

_Tara: never…wait…guilty?_

_Tara: that’s fucked me up_

_Tara: okay just say never if you haven’t that’s easier to understand_

_Glenn: never????? I guess_

_Andrea: never_

_Michonne: never_

_Lori: never_

_Daryl: never_

_Shane: never_

_Tara: rick why are you blushing so much_

_Tara: [photo]_

_Tara: glenn why are YOU blushing_

_Tara: [photo]_

_Rick:…guilty_

_Maggie: oh_

_Maggie: my_

_Maggie: god_

_Rick: we were drunk off our asses_

_Glenn: I don’t remember most of it tbh_

_Rick: neither_

_Rick: but it happened_

_Glenn: it was about three years ago_

_Glenn: after that disastrous pool party at taras_

_Tara: oh sweet lord I remember that_

_Maggie: we are so talking about this later_

_Maggie: rick you do one_

_Rick: never have I ever had sex with shane_

_Shane: this is the second one to do with me and sex im sensing a theme_

_Tara: the theme is youre a slut_

_Shane: tru_

_Shane: never_

_Shane: unless my hand counts_

_Rick: dude_

_Shane: well does it_

_Tara: nah_

_Tara: also never_

_Andrea: guilty_

_Glenn: never_

_Maggie: never_

_Daryl: never_

_Michonne: never_

_Lori: never_

_Lori: wait what are we counting as sex like actual sexual intercourse_

_Tara: why do you ask_

_Shane: I did the paddling_

_Glenn: gross_

_Maggie: is nothing sacred in this group anymore_

_Rick: nothing ever was_

_Tara: I am terminating this thread of conversation_

_Andrea: I have one_

_Andrea: never have I ever fired a gun_

_Daryl: guilty_

_Lori: never_

_Tara: guilty_

_Shane: guilty_

_Rick: guilty_

_Glenn: never_

_Michonne: never_

_Maggie: guilty_

_Glenn: Maggie_

_Maggie: what_

_Maggie: you grow up country, you learn a thing or two_

_Maggie: lori you go_

_Lori: never have I ever had a penis in my mouth_

_Tara: and we are back to the dicks_

_Tara: never_

_Maggie: guilty_

_Andrea: guilty_

_Michonne: never_

_Daryl: never_

_Rick: never_

_Shane: never_

_Glenn: guilty and nobody say anything_

_Tara: …………………………………….._

_Maggie: wait_

_Andrea: GLENN_

_Michonne: glenn you cant say you’ve given a blowjob and then expect us not to ask_

_Rick: remember me and glenn got drunk and made out_

_Shane: dude_

_Daryl: glenn gave rick a blowjob everyone_

_Glenn: we don’t talk about it_

_Tara: shook tbh_

_Maggie: tara how do you think I feel_

_Maggie: this is the best thing ive ever heard_

_Glenn: hey daryl why don’t you think of one_

_Daryl: never have I ever talked to my dad without being threatened with violence_

_Michonne: dude…_

_Michonne: never_

_Andrea: never_

_Shane: never_

_Tara: never_

_Rick: never_

_Glenn: never_

_Lori: never_

_Maggie: never_

_Daryl: I win_

_Tara: you don’t really though, do you_

_Tara: because your dad threatens you with violence all the time_

_Daryl: haha_

_Lori: why are you laughing_

_Daryl: because if I don’t I’ll cry_

_Rick: daryl are you feeling okay_

_Daryl: dandy_

_Shane: never have I ever seen daryl open his soul like this before just now_

_Rick: never_

_Glenn: never_

_Andrea: never_

_Tara: never_

_Lori: never_

_Michonne: never_

_Maggie: never_

_Daryl: never_

_Maggie: what brought this on???_

_Maggie: I mean I am super happy you can talk about it_

_Maggie: but why now????_

_Daryl: started seeing the counsellor lady at school_

_Daryl: her names Karen_

_Daryl: first step is to talk to those I trust the most apparently_

_Glenn: dude I am so happy for you_

_Lori: daryl im coming to hug you!!!!!!!!!_

_Tara: awwwwww_

_Tara: [photo]_

_Tara: everyone come join the group hug_

_Daryl: I am being suffocated_

_Maggie: [photo]_

_Maggie: now I will join the pile_

_Daryl: actually dying_

_Michonne: but youre dying happy_

_Daryl: damn right I am_

_Maggie: mr ford is yelling at us to sit down_

_Glenn: let him shout we’re having a moment_

* * *

Glenn had to admit that he understood Maggie’s obsession with dead bodies just a little bit. Looking into the glass case in front of him at the still preserved Egyptian mummy, he squeezed Maggie’s hand. She was practically vibrating with excitement as she looked at the body with him, and turned to grin at him. “It’s so cool!” she whispered, eyes shining.

The other students wandered around next to them, a few of them glancing into the case and reading the little plaque next to it, but none of them spending as much time looking at it as Maggie was. “It’s amazing that they could do this kind of stuff with no understanding of biology like we have today.”

Maggie nodded vigorously, strands of hair falling in her face. “They were so clever in their own way. They didn’t necessarily understand everything that happened, but they knew how to prevent it from happening. They didn’t know why bodies rot, but they stopped it; they didn’t know why exposure to air and heat caused bodies to rot quicker, but they sealed the bodies away wrapped in bandages to stop it.”

Glenn smiled at her enthusiasm as she stood with her nose practically against the glass. “How long have you been obsessed with forensic pathology for?”

“Ever since I learnt about the Egyptians and mummies. It’s just so cool, how the body breaks down after death, and how you can learn so much from a dead body.”

Glenn smiled and wrapped his arm around her waist, offering his shoulder for her to lean on. “You’re such a nerd. And a weirdo.”

“You know it.”

* * *

“Hey, Mags?” Tara rapped on the bathroom door.

“Yeah?” Maggie called back, washing the last of the shampoo suds from her hair. For a slightly rundown and shabby motel, the shower was pretty clean and had decent water pressure, as well as enough hot water for her and Tara to have a long shower each. The towels were massive and fluffy as well.

“I’m going to hang out with Sasha for a bit, we haven’t hung out much lately. So…you have the room to yourself.” Tara’s lecherous grin seeped into her words, and Maggie rolled her eyes.

“Thanks for letting me know,” she replied, beginning to lather the conditioner into her hair. “I’ll put a sock on the door if me and Glenn are having sex.”

“Use a condom!”

Maggie could hear Tara giggling as she left the room, and rolled her eyes fondly as she washed out the conditioner. She slathered herself in some more body wash and then some body butter stuff that Tara had brought with her and told her to use, before stepping out of the shower and wrapping one of the towels around herself.

She dried her hair partially, letting it hang down loose and damp, before stepping out of the bathroom. Glenn was sitting on the bed, playing with his phone, but he looked up when he heard her, and then grinned when he saw what she was wearing. “Hey,” he said softly, looking her up and down.

“Hey,” Maggie replied, smiling back, a little shyly. “Tara told you she was going out?”

“If by told you mean dragged me out of my room and down here, then yeah.” Glenn reached out for her as she walked closer, and pulled her down gently onto his lap. Some of the water droplets on her legs soaked into his jeans, but he didn’t seem to care. He just buried his hands in the fluffiness of the towel and kissed her neck gently, moving his lips over the skin gently until she was shuddering on top of him.

“You good?” he whispered into her ear, biting gently and tugging on her earlobe before she could answer.

“Mmm – yeah, I’m good.” Maggie reached down and dislodged her towel, exposing one breast and letting Glenn strip it off the rest of the way. He made an appreciative noise before carefully lifting her up and laying her down on the bed, hovering on top of her. “I thought I wasn’t getting a reward for the museum,” she finally managed to choke out. She wasn’t able to focus well when he was looking at her with those sweet, intense brown eyes. “It was for the morgue.”

Glenn frowned at her. “Firstly, please don’t talk about morgues in this situation. Secondly…” He dipped his head to her shoulder and began kissing the skin there, moving his way down to her collarbone. “This isn’t the reward. This is just because you’re amazing.”

Maggie smiled at him and tucked her hands underneath the waistband of his boxers. “Carry on,” she said, in a joking tone of voice, but both of them knew she wasn’t joking.

“Carry on? About how amazing you are? About how beautiful, clever, kind, and wonderful you are?” Glenn asked innocently, hand ghosting over her breasts. “And how I love you with everything I have?”

“Yeah, like that,” Maggie breathed, whining when his hand finally made contact with her, teasing and stroking her in all the right places.

“Hmmm…” Glenn said mock-thoughtfully, shuffling down her body and kissing her stomach. “I wonder what else there is to say? Maybe I could talk about how good you taste.”

“Glenn,” Maggie warned, muscles in her thighs tensing up. He knew exactly what effect his words had on her, and abused that power all the time.

Glenn smiled at her lazily, resting his head sideways on her stomach. “You’re right. I shouldn’t talk about it.” His hands moved down to her thighs, sliding down and gripping slightly. “I should just do it.” In one fluid motion – honestly, Glenn was so graceful when they were in bed, and so clumsy at any other time – his head was between her legs, tongue working earnestly.

“Shit, Glenn,” Maggie yelped, clutching at his hair and arching her back, trying to get as close to him as possible. “Oh my God, okay, yeah, that’s good, keep doing that.”

Glenn made a short noise of affirmation, mouth not leaving its post, and readjusted his grip on her legs to pull her even closer. He pulled back a few moments later to breathe in, and grinned at her, his mouth and chin slick. “You have a first class vagina, Maggie,” he informed her, and then ducked his head back down.

* * *

“You see here, in the eyes? Those are scleral haemorrhages. It’s one of the big indicators that someone has been strangled to death,” Dr. Scully said, pointing to the bloody areas. Maggie leant over to get a better look. “Can you see any other signs?”

Maggie hesitated. The strangulation victim – a woman in her late twenties, domestic violence – had bruising and furrow marks around her neck, but that was too obvious to point out. She wanted to sound vaguely intelligent. She spotted a lump in the woman’s neck, and frowned. It looked almost like an Adam’s apple. “There,” she said, pointing it out.

Dr. Scully smiled. “Very good. That’s the hyoid bone. You see it broken in around one third of strangulations; usually the more violent ones.”

Maggie shuddered. What an awful way to go. Dr. Scully saw her and smiled sympathetically. “There are some things that don’t get easier the more often you see them,” she said softly. “The dead bodies? You get used to them. The smell? I don’t even notice it anymore. But the victims themselves? That’s the worst part of the job.”

“At least you’re bringing them justice,” Maggie replied, looking down at the dead woman. At least in death, she was getting some respect.

Dr. Scully was silent for a moment, and then she said, “Have you ever considered going into forensics, Maggie?”

Maggie shrugged. “I thought about it. I love animals as well, so it’s between that and veterinary medicine.”

“Well, if it helps you any, you’d be great in pathology. Think about it.” Dr. Scully stripped off her latex gloves and indicated for Maggie to follow her to another room. “You’re going to love this one. John Doe, estimated early sixties, fatal laceration to the stomach. Death from blood loss – but he also had a bullet in this throat, with no entry or exit hole.”

Maggie followed eagerly, glad all of her classmates had opted out within the first thirty minutes of being in the morgue. She was having an awesome time with just her and Dr. Scully.

* * *

“I can’t believe you stayed in there for so long,” Glenn groaned, still looking faintly nauseous. “The smell was so bad.”

Maggie smiled. “It was so amazing, though, Glenn. Dr. Scully was so clever, and told me so much cool stuff. I really think this could be what I go into as a career.”

Glenn stroked her hair. “Go for it, if that’s what you want to do. Just don’t make me go into any morgues, okay?”

“Deal.” Maggie settled into the crease of his arm and sighed. “I need to have a shower, though. I feel dirty from being in there for so long.”

Glenn pulled a face. “Please do.” He dropped his head to mutter next to her ear, “Then I can fulfil my promise.”

Maggie shuddered, remembering what he’d said to her, and vowed to have a shower as soon as she got home. She was about to turn to kiss Glenn when her phone buzzed in her pocket, startling her. She pulled it out, clicking on the notification without really looking at it, and was unsurprised when she was met with a photo of Michonne actually sitting on Rick’s face, though they were both thankfully clothed, and apparently on one of the motel rooms.

“Is that…?” Glenn asked, looking at the screen.

“Yep.”

_Tara: lmao this isn’t even the wildest pic I took_

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The group chat bit got out of hand I am sorry
> 
> Also I didn’t know how to end that so??? Daryl finally gets help/a decent storyline???? Because the writers of twd are dicks to him and all they do is kill people to give him sorrow????? Idk im bitter
> 
> Also
> 
> I love receiving asks on tumblr about this story or my other stories or anything tbh
> 
> And if you can’t think of anything to ask me…
> 
> Try checking out my tumblr asks page: asperger-girl.tumblr.com/tagged/asks
> 
> ;)


	12. Chapter 12

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> It’s been over a year but I’m back!
> 
> Don’t ask me where the inspiration for this came from. I think it’s partly because I’ve applied for and been accepted into uni on a pretty long and hard-working course, so I’m not going to have much time to write once I start it in September. Hence, I suddenly wanted to write loads.
> 
> Shoutout to Maggie for looking over this for me and helping me Americanise it (I had no idea you guys had separate Maths classes!)
> 
> Hope you’re all well if you’re all still around lmao

 

Nothing can ruin Maggie’s mood today. She’s got an essay back in English with a 96 scrawled at the top, and aced a surprise test in Trigonometry. Now in History, they’re covering the French Revolution, a topic she did at her last school and so knows all about already, meaning she can relax a little bit. To the point where she feels happy to check her phone when it vibrates in her pocket, which turns out to be a text from Tara reading ‘hey im stuck in my locker can u come get me out thnx xoxoxo’.

 

When she said nothing could ruin her mood – she’s rethinking that statement.

 

She raises her hand and asks to be excused to the bathroom, and curses Tara for having a locker halfway across the school all the way there. She arrives out-of-breath and finds the brunette mostly crammed inside her locker, with just one leg sticking out.

 

Maggie spreads her arms in a ‘what the hell’ gesture, and gets “I have a free period” as the response, like that explains everything.

 

Maggie sighs. “How do we do this?”

 

“Uh, well, first, you take a picture of me, then you grab my leg and pull.”

 

“None of that sounds like a good idea,” Maggie comments as she pulls out her phone and snaps a picture of Tara looking absurdly pleased and absurdly rectangular. 

 

“Climbing into this was a bad idea. Therefore, a bad idea will reverse the situation,” Tara explains. Maggie grabs her calf and pulls. Tara flies out and lands on the floor with a thump. “Thanks, Mags.” She stretches out her leg, still looking pleased with herself.

 

“Are you okay?” Maggie feels obligated to ask, even though she feels like snapping at Tara for climbing into a locker in the first place. There’s a reason she gets called the mom of the group, and it’s because the rest of them are children who have to be stopped from doing stupid shit.

 

“Just fine.” Tara springs to her feet and straightens her jacket. “Thank you, seriously. Can you imagine if I was in there when the period ended? Dodged a bullet there.”

 

“You probably would have gotten a detention. Anyway, I have to go. I’m all the way over in history and I said I was going to the bathroom so I can’t take too long.”

 

“Dude, just say lady problems. They won’t ask any more questions after that.”

 

“I’ll see you at lunch, Tara. I’ve sent you the photo, do with it what you will.”

 

“You are an angel disguised as a beautiful farm girl,” Tara calls after her. 

 

Halfway back to class, she receives a text from Glenn saying ‘thanks for helping Tara out of the locker she might have gotten suspended this time’, and decides not to think about it too hard. She stashes her phone back in her pocket, after turning the ringer off, and slips back into class with a mouthed ‘sorry’ to her teacher.

 

* * *

 

At the end of the class Maggie gets held back and asked why she took so long in the bathroom. Tara’s advice works and as soon as she looks embarrassed and mumbles, “Um, lady problems, sir,” her elderly history teacher looks alarmed and tells her she can go. 

 

The interaction makes her a little late to her locker, but when she gets there she finds the area suspiciously devoid of Glenn. He always waits for her, even if she’s a little bit late, or sometimes a lot late. She fishes her phone out to text him and check he’s okay, and sees that he sent her another message after she turned her notifications off, saying he’s going to have lunch with Sasha because they need to study for a Bio test together.

 

She’s a little disappointed, but she doesn’t want to be one of those girlfriends who has to spend the entire time with her boyfriend or else she crumbles. She’s determined to give him his own space when he needs it, just as he gives her time to herself when she asks for it.

 

“It is Thursday, my dudes,” she greets when she reaches the lunch table. Tara responds with a yowl that makes Rick throw lettuce at her.

 

“Where’s the other half?” Michonne asks, cutting off parts of an apple with a knife that’s unnecessarily (and possibly illegally) large and sharp-looking.

 

“Studying,” Maggie replies, pulling out the packed lunch that Beth had made for her that morning. “Bio test coming up.”

 

“We love a man who revises,” Tara mumbles to herself, stuffing a handful of chocolate into her mouth. “We stan.”

 

“Do you just see phrases on Twitter and Tumblr, and repeat them without thinking about it?” Andrea asks.

 

“My brain basically doesn’t exist anymore,” Tara confirms, and offers her bag of chocolate around the table. Everyone takes one, apart from Daryl who scowls at the packaging like it’s personally offended him. Maggie chalks it up to Daryl being Daryl, but after another ten minutes when he growls at Lori for the heinous crime of accidentally bumping elbows, it’s clear that there’s something going on.

 

“Daryl, man, you okay?” Rick asks cautiously, ever the peacemaker.

 

Daryl growls again, then mutters something none of them catch. It sounds disparaging, whatever it is. He glances up through his bangs to frown at Maggie, and then jerk his head to the side. Before she can ask what he means, he makes it clear by standing up and striding away to a more secluded part of the courtyard.

 

Maggie shrugs when everyone looks at her, but gets up and follows Daryl over to where he’s slid down the wall. He’s fiddling with a cigarette but not actually lighting it, though he looks like he wants to.

 

“Glenn’s been spending a lot of time with Sasha,” he says out of the blue, and unrolls the cigarette.

 

“Yes,” Maggie agrees. She slides over to the wall and sits down next to him, careful not to get too close or make any eye-contact. “They’re in the same Bio class. They have the same test.”

 

“If they’ve been studying for that long, they should be curing cancer by now,” Daryl mutters, looking angry. “They were studying three weeks ago, y’know. Don’t know if the test was even announced then.”

 

Maggie’s not sure why she has the weird swooping, sinking sensation in her stomach. She knows that Glenn wouldn’t cheat on her, which is what Daryl seems to be implying. But at the same time – “Three weeks?”

 

Daryl nods. “Tyreese asked me to help him fix up his bike. I went over. They were in the kitchen.”

 

“Well, maybe they just have loads of tests in Biology,” Maggie reasons. “Or, homework?”

 

Daryl looks guilty. “I—shit, Maggie. Look, I like you. You’re hot shit. I’m never saying that again. But – they were cosy. Real cosy. Sitting real close to each other, knees touching, Sasha had her hand on top of his arm.”

 

Maggie bites her lip. She feels nauseous, genuinely nauseous, but also kind of dizzy. “Can you give me a few minutes alone please?” she asks faintly, feeling tears sting her eyes. The sensation makes her eyes water even more, ironically enough.

 

She hears Daryl get up and walk again, hears a low buzz of conversation as Daryl presumably tells them not to bother her, and lets her head fall onto her knees as the tears flow.

 

* * *

 

She thinks back over the past three weeks, and counts how many times Glenn wasn’t able to make something because of studying with Sasha. Seven, and that’s just what she knows about. She trusts Glenn, but if there’s evidence, then there’s evidence, right?

 

She works herself up into a frenzy at home, pacing her room until her legs are sore from the repetitive motion, unable to sit and focus on any task for more than five minutes. Eventually, she gives up on trying to do any work and grabs her riding hat, and spends a good three hours with the horses.

 

She still feels empty by the time dinner rolls around. She eats four bites, and even then the food threatens to revolt and thrashes around in her stomach. “I think I’m coming down with something,” she lies to her concerned family. “I might take tomorrow off school, and then hopefully I’ll recover over the weekend.”

 

“Sounds good to me,” her dad agrees, and presses his palm to her forehead briefly. “You feel a little warm, nothing serious. Resting will probably do you good. Feel better, sweetheart.”

 

“Thanks, daddy. I think I’ll take a bubble bath too.” She only ever takes bubble baths when she’s feeling bad, mentally and physically, so she knows it will convince her father that she’s not feeling great.

 

“I got some lavender-scented stuff a little while ago, that might be nice,” Annette suggests. “Quite relaxing, too.” There’s something soft in her eyes that makes Maggie think she knows this isn’t the cause of a stomach bug.

 

Maggie smiles, appreciating the effort. Things are sometimes a little strained between her and her step-mother, and she will admit it’s probably down to her a lot of the time, but there are moments where everything seems okay. “Thanks, Annette. I’ll definitely use that.”

 

She escapes to the bathroom and finds the lavender soak in the cupboard. Spotify somehow knows her mood and suggests a relaxing playlist, which she puts on in the background. For the final bit of ambience, she lights a couple of candles on the counter.

 

Glenn rings just as she’s stepping into the bath. She presses decline, puts on Do Not Disturb, and turns her phone screen-down. Maybe it’s unfair, because spending time with another woman does not a cheat equal, but she can’t bring herself to be fair right now. Seven times at least in three weeks seems a bit much for studying, she thinks. And if it’s not studying – if it’s just hanging out as friends, then why couldn’t he tell her? Unless it’s not.

 

* * *

 

_Maggie, I don’t know what’s wrong. Can you tell me please? I can’t help unless I know what’s wrong. Please let me in._

 

Damn Glenn for always knowing exactly how to break down her walls.

 

She hits ring.

 

It rings once, twice, and a half – then Glenn picks up, sounding out of breath. “Maggie! Are you – are you okay?”

 

She means to say ‘hi’ or ‘I missed you’ or ‘I need to talk to you about something that’s probably all in my head’, but instead she blurts, “Are you cheating with Sasha?”

 

“I – I am not sure how to respond to that,” Glenn stutters. Maggie’s heart sinks. That’s a confession, right?

 

“It’s okay,” Maggie chokes, even though it’s really not.

 

“No, no!” Glenn scrambles, and there’s a thud and then loud swearing like he’s dropped his phone. “I’ve not been cheating,” he says breathlessly. “I – I can’t believe you’d think that.”

 

“I didn’t,” Maggie says in a small voice. “But then – seven times. Over three weeks. At least. That’s every three days, that’s a lot of time to be spending with someone who isn’t your girlfriend.”

 

“Maggie…” Glenn sighs. “I wanted it to be a surprise. Um – Sasha’s dad, he’s a carpenter. He taught her loads of stuff. She’s been helping me make something for your birthday.”

 

“I’m the stupidest person on this planet,” Maggie says to herself, then realises that she really needs to apologise. How could she doubt Glenn? “Baby, I am so sorry! I shouldn’t have doubted you, I don’t know why I did, I can’t believe I thought you would do that.”’

 

“Maggie, Maggie, stop. I – I get it, okay? We usually spend loads of time together. And then I was spending it with another girl. But…yeah. I can’t believe that you thought I’d cheat on you. I love you so much.” Glenn’s voice breaks. Maggie can tell, even through the terrible phone line, that he’s begun to cry. “I think I need some time to think about stuff.”

 

“Glenn—”

 

“I’m not breaking up with you,” he says firmly. “But…I need time to figure out what just happened. How you automatically assumed that I was spending any time not with you to cheat on you.”

 

“I didn’t, I didn’t think about it until—” She stops herself from saying Daryl’s name, lest she starts a rift between him and Glenn. “Until someone mentioned it. Then my anxiety took over, and it just snowballed.” Her vision’s gone blurry. It takes her a few seconds to realise she’s near hyperventilating and sobbing.

 

“Maggie, I get it, I do.” Glenn sounds urgent. “Please just breathe. You can’t let your anxiety control your life. I know it’s hard. But it’s not healthy, for anyone. Including you. I know you don’t like the idea of a therapist, but if it’s affecting you like this…you need someone to help you with this. It’s _toxic_.”

 

“Glenn—”

 

“I have to go.” Glenn’s voice cracks again and he hangs up.

 

Maggie stares at her phone, distraught, and her breath catches in her throat and she genuinely can’t breathe. Nobody’s at home, she’s alone, nobody can help her, she doesn’t have anybody, she doesn’t have Glenn –

 

The door to her room suddenly bangs open, and a storm consisting of Michonne and several carrier bags flies in. “I have chocolate!” she announces, and then sees her. “Oh, no. Come here.” She wraps her up in a firm, solid hug, and lets Maggie cry onto her shoulder.

 

 

* * *

As always, if you have any prompts or ideas for me, please let me know! You can also hit up my [tumblr](asperger-girl.tumblr.com)

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I’ve already started writing the next chapter and part of this, so you guys shouldn’t have to wait 14 months for it. I hope


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